Shards
by Cantare
Summary: Interlude between Antiphony and the Height of Faith. With only a shattered picture of what could have happened to Jasmine, Aladdin and the others are left to bear the cost of her choices.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The tiger awoke slowly to the warmth of sunlight on his fur. The new day carried a fresh scent, traces of a cloudless sky and a cooling breeze.

As usual, he was slow to wake fully, preferring to bask in the warmth until the princess was up or breakfast arrived. Usually the former had to happen first, as the servants customarily waited for her permission before coming in.

He opened his eyes a crack and saw she was still in her bed, delicate lips curved downward in a slight frown. Perhaps she hadn't eaten enough before going to sleep the night before. He closed his eyes again and fell into a light doze.

Some time later, he finally stretched and rose from the floor as the sunlight had grown too hot on his fur. He padded silently toward the bed and nuzzled her hand, and she finally opened her eyes. Instead of turning to smile at him, she stared up at the ceiling, looking more serious than before. Her hand stroked his head absently.

Then she climbed out of bed and hurried about the room, hardly paying him any attention. Slightly miffed, he sat back on his haunches by the door and wondered when the food would arrive. He was hungry.

She dressed surprisingly quickly and left before a servant girl could arrive to wash and comb her hair. Rajah tilted his head curiously as she hurried down the hall, having all but ignored him. With a growl of discontent he lay his head on his paws and stared at the half-open door. It looked like he wouldn't get any playtime after his meal, either.

Still, he was quite used to her temperament. She was more like a tiger than most other humans, which had solidified their bond from the start. She was dignified and poised, sharp and intelligent, fierce and protective. But she also liked to play, and enjoyed the sun and lush grass and open sky. He was still a little resentful that she had taken to flying on a carpet more often than running across the gardens with him, but he supposed if it made her happy, he ought to be happy as well. Today, her sharp impatient side had surfaced, which would probably preclude any form of fun altogether.

She came back before his next meal, her footsteps a brisk tattoo against the polished floor. He looked up half-heartedly from his spot by the balcony, expecting her to snatch up whatever she was looking for and leave again. But she stayed instead, settling down at her desk and drawing out a sheaf of blank parchment. With a determined look on her face, she began to scribble black marks all over it.

He watched her curiously before settling back and closing his eyes again. It was best to leave her alone, as she could be quite territorial when she was in this mood.

She continued through the afternoon and into the night, seemingly unaware of the fact that a plate of perfectly good meat and assorted foods was growing cold beside her. He nudged it toward her pointedly, and she finally turned to him.

"Hungry, aren't you?" she said, the first words she had spoken to him all day. He decided not to let his offense show and eagerly accepted the scraps of food from her hand while she stared at the black marks she had made.

He stayed close by her side when she went to bed soon afterward. The determined look on her face did not fade as she let down her hair and brushed through it once or twice.

"It's a game I'll win," she spoke. He licked her hand in encouragement. If making black marks on parchment was a new game she had started, he was sure she would win with ease.

She lay down and closed her eyes, murmuring softly. "Mozenrath. I'm waiting."

Rajah licked her palm again, curious. But the soft, relaxed exhalation from her lips signaled she was already asleep, her breathing deep and even. The game must have tired her out, as she had been concentrating hard on it all day. He settled beside her and closed his eyes as well, preferring to sleep close to her tonight instead of by the balcony.

The next day the game continued. She stayed at her desk, frowning at the mounting volume of parchment in front of her. He found it boring and pointless, but humans did many things that were boring and pointless. She would probably realize it faster than others, though, and abandon it promptly. He simply gave her space and waited. It took a significant amount of patience, and soon his own mood began to turn sour from the tedium.

He was half-asleep in the afternoon when she asked him a question.

"Are you watching me?"

He raised his head and blinked. Was she expecting him to track her progress? He'd thought she had forgotten his presence altogether.

But he saw that she was not speaking to him. From her spot on the divan, she glanced around the room warily as if searching for someone. His senses shot to full alertness immediately and he sniffed the air for any signs of an intruder, ears straining to pick up the slightest sound.

"Are you?" she said.

Rajah kept still, not letting his guard down. He filtered out the background noise of the breeze and the birds outside and listened carefully for approaching footsteps or human breathing. There was nothing. He looked at her cautiously, wondering who she was talking to. After a moment she relaxed and went back to her work. He lowered his head but did not sleep, staying alert for a while longer in case there was indeed a threat nearby.

The tension in her countenance was clear, and the frown on her face had not gone away for more than a day. He had thought she was winning the game, but perhaps she had run into an obstacle and was stuck. His concern turned to disappointment, since this inevitably meant she would spend even more time indoors instead of outside with him.

No danger reared its head for the rest of the day, and he settled beside her bed as soon as night fell. The lamp on her desk did not go out for a long time.

The next several days were increasingly troubling as the game dragged on seemingly without end. He began to think it was not a game at all. She was eating and sleeping less, and she continued to shut herself in her room, hardly talking to anyone. When she did speak, it was at night as she lay back in bed. She would close her eyes, whisper to herself, and fall asleep instantly. One night he nuzzled her hand after she had shut her eyes, and found her completely unresponsive. It was strange that she could fall into such a deep sleep so quickly, even if she were tired.

Rajah found his own mood deteriorating alongside hers. He naturally wanted to protect her from whatever was bothering her, but he did not know what it was, and she would not tell him. He became more alert to their surroundings, the innocuous room they had always shared now riddled with invisible threats. It had become her cage, and there was nothing that tigers hated more than cages. The fact she was willingly subjecting herself to such torment left Rajah at a loss. Humans were indeed a mystery, even the ones that exhibited traits of his species. It confused and saddened him that he no longer understood her as well as he used to.

...

"My daughter's orders were to open them for one day?" the sultan said, slightly perplexed. "Did she provide a reason?"

"No, Your Majesty," the councilor answered, head still bowed.

He dismissed the man and went back to rearranging the rows of model animals beside his throne. But he had lost interest in them for the moment, intrigued by his daughter's recent flurry of activity. He supposed Jasmine did not need to explain herself to the servants any more than he did, but he would have preferred it if she had consulted him first before issuing any decrees. Of course, the news that she was acting independently for the welfare of the kingdom made him proud of her as any father would be. She had grown so much in the past few years, from a restless, rebellious girl to a strong and self-assured young woman. It was hard to believe her wedding was so close, when she would truly leave his side as his only child and begin a new life at the side of the kingdom's hero. Though the sultan looked forward to giving up most of his official duties and playing with grandchildren, there was a certain poignant sadness to all of the change in the air. He was old, and Jasmine was still so young and full of life and ambition. He couldn't help but feel she was beginning to leave him behind, as all children were wont to do.

He had the servants prepare a pavilion in the gardens for their lunch together. He missed dining with her alone, since she was often away with Aladdin and their friends or exploring the city he had barred her from entering for most of her life. It had been a great error to shelter her to such a degree after her mother's passing. Only after he had granted her near complete freedom had he realized just how much potential she had, and how much happier she was when she could see and experience firsthand the world beyond the palace.

He had always found it striking how much she resembled her mother in appearance, but now the similarities in personality were evident as well, though Jasmine had no recollection of Asima. His late wife had not been quite as headstrong and outspoken as their daughter, but she had had the same inner strength and stubbornness when it came to her convictions, including her curiosity about the world and her commitment to bettering the lives of the common people. Likewise, Jasmine had developed an immutable sense of duty toward the kingdom, and he was confident she would make a fair and wise sultana alongside her future husband.

But she seemed troubled as she arrived late to the gardens for their meal, and picked at her food throughout their conversation. He wondered if all her recent decisions were making her nervous already. He recalled his own anxiety when he had first taken the throne and begun shouldering the weight of a thousand responsibilities, constantly second-guessing his choices and worrying that any mistake could spell disaster for the kingdom. It was different for her, as Aladdin would bear the brunt of the burden, but he knew she would do as much as she could to help, especially considering the young man's common upbringing and inexperience with governance. For now, he merely found it endearing to see his daughter caught up in this harrowing stage of royal life.

"Jasmine, I was told you ordered the city granaries to be opened for a day," he said. "A reasonable albeit unexpected move. But I am curious as to what brought on this decision. Such an action is usually not warranted unless there are food shortages."

The question seemed to refocus her distracted state of mind. "It's not about food shortages, father. It's about showing we care for the people."

"I see. A show of compassion from the already beloved princess?"

"Well, there's never a guarantee they'll love me forever."

"Hmm. I find it highly unlikely that you will ever receive anything but adulation from our people. Of course, I may be a bit biased."

He smiled fondly as she laughed.

"As I see it, daughter, you may be getting a little ahead of yourself. There is no need for overt displays of benevolence when you already enjoy such popularity."

"But it couldn't hurt. Right now the people know me primarily for helping Aladdin save the kingdom from outside attack. I need to show that I'm capable of good governance as well."

The sultan considered this. "A sound idea, but I still think you are placing undue burdens on yourself. You will undoubtedly make a fine sultana. No need to exercise such authority before you are even married."

She frowned, signaling that she still disagreed. But he did not argue with her further, knowing she would not be swayed when she wore such an expression.

He did not think more of it until the next morning when the weekly meeting with his ministers revealed the exact extent of her disagreement. The changes she had set into motion were more than cosmetic. A doubling in size of the border patrol; stringent new training in the detection of dangerous substances; an exorbitant project to expand the city's underground shelters that had thrown the royal treasurer into a nervous fit. Upon hearing of the last initiative, he decided to close the meeting early and find out exactly what had driven her to do all this, as none of the councilors had dared ask her.

She did not come to the throne room when he sent for her. With a resigned sigh he set off to find her himself. It was unbecoming of a sultan to have to wait on his own daughter and to wander the halls with his guards looking for her, but he supposed it couldn't hurt to dote on her any more than he already had. The servants were long accustomed to his unconventional behavior toward his only child.

He found her at last in one of the meeting rooms, dictating orders to several civil servants. Their attention was immediately diverted from her speech upon his entrance, and he could see the frown in her eyes even as she kept her face expressionless. She inclined her head in a cursory manner a second after the men bowed low to him. He dismissed them and noticed that they glanced at her for permission before proceeding out the door.

"Jasmine, I believe we need to continue yesterday's conversation," he said, sitting down beside her.

With the servants gone, she no longer hid her frown. "Before we do, father, I'd like to ask that you don't interrupt me like that. I don't hold meetings unless they're necessary."

"That's just what I wanted to speak with you about, dear." He kept his voice stern, drawing the line of his authority. He did not mind if she disagreed with him, but disrespect was another matter, especially in the presence of others.

"What's the matter, father?"

He chose to begin positively. She always responded best when offered praise before criticism. "Jasmine, I am pleased that you are assuming many responsibilities and proving yourself capable of ruling, but…why? I don't understand the urgency for such changes. I was informed this morning by my ministers just how much you have been doing. The border patrols are in a frenzy trying to implement the demands you have set. The royal treasurer asked me for permission today to draw from the kingdom's reserves to fund a massive construction project of underground shelters. Do you realize how much of a drain on our resources those two changes alone will be?"

"We will have the resources. I will make sure of it," she asserted.

He refrained from shaking his head, as he was quite sure she knew little about the kingdom's finances.

"I'm afraid you still have much to learn about effective governance. There are only so many changes a ruler can make in a short span of time, especially if there is little need for change. Agrabah has not been under threat for a good while, nor are we in a state of hostility toward any other sovereign kingdom."

"There are always threats," she said defensively. "They're just not always detectible. The most dangerous ones are the least detectible, in fact."

"This is not an adventure tale from your childhood storybooks, Jasmine," he said in a more direct tone. "Secret conspiracies and underground enemies—there are none great enough to seriously threaten the kingdom, and even if there are, our defenses are more than strong enough to deal with them."

She did not take the correction well, as usual. "Adventure tales? Father, I'm not a child anymore. I'm not naïve or stupid. I'd say I've actually done more to protect the kingdom in the last few days than you've done in years."

The blunt accusation was followed by a brief stunned silence on his part, during which he thought she might apologize. But she said nothing, merely sitting up straighter and meeting his gaze with defiance. He did not allow himself to feel any anger, only regret that he was going to have to rebuke her. This conversation was not going to end well, but he had to set limits and remind her of her position.

"Jasmine, you speak out of turn. Must we have this talk again? You must know your place as princess. You will be sultana, but not sultan. Your role is to serve, not to lead. I understand you may feel resentful against me because I hold the power you cannot wield—"

"You have to be kidding me, father," she interrupted angrily. "What I said doesn't have to do with any resentment against your authority. And I disagree with your view of my future role. Sultan or sultana, whoever rules fairly and effectively should have the power. You said yourself over a year ago that the law was the problem. No archaic law is going to prevent me from assuming the level of authority I need in order to keep the kingdom safe."

He sighed at her incorrigible stubbornness. He had long since given up on expecting obedience and submission from her, but it was frustrating and disappointing to deal with her at times. Had anyone else given her the same advice and criticism, she would likely have been more receptive, but because he was her father, she naturally had to challenge him at every turn.

"I won't argue with you any further, it never gets us anywhere. Let me ask you a question, then. Have you spoken with Aladdin at all about any of the things you have done in the past week?"

That made her pause, as he had known it would. "No, I haven't."

He took the opening with a measure of relief. "You may continue to disagree with me, but I am telling you that your role is to serve. Not only serve our people, but serve your husband. Aladdin will be sultan, and whether you like it or not he will be the head of the kingdom. The question of his own competence aside, you must devote yourself to supporting him in his duties as ruler. It concerns me that you have not spoken to him at all about the actions you have taken. I have already bent over backwards in order to allow him to succeed me, Jasmine. I have scrapped age-old laws and fought half the court tooth-and-nail to uphold my choice…your choice. You chose to marry him, daughter, and you must take responsibility for that decision. All will not go smoothly when he ascends the throne. You must help prepare him to rule and prepare our people to accept him instead of building yourself up. The only thing that will unsettle the kingdom more than a street rat sultan is a woman on the throne."

Though the indignation had not faded from her eyes, she looked slightly chastised and seemed to think over his words.

"Do you believe he is ready to rule?" he asked more gently.

"No."

They had found some common ground at last. "Neither do I, dear. Neither do I. And that worries me greatly."

"If it worries you, why haven't you talked to him about it?" she said, her frown deepening. "If you think I should just play a supportive role and not hold any real power, then I shouldn't be the one to teach him anything about how to rule. That responsibility is yours, isn't it?"

It surprised him how quickly she had become defensive again. "He is required to attend weekly meetings with my advisors. They prepared lessons for him soon after the law was changed."

"Meetings with your advisors, but not with you?"

The sultan silently admitted his oversight and found he had lost the ground he had just managed to gain.

She looked at him in exasperation. "This is exactly what bothers me about you, father. It's bothered me for years, in fact. You say a lot but don't actually do anything. It's as if you assume there will always be servants to do everything for you, people who can somehow read your mind and will happily carry out all your wishes to perfection. A few years ago you had Jafar basically running the kingdom. Look where that got us. I thought that after that disaster you would change and start effectively using the authority you claim I'll never have. But you haven't."

He was taken aback by the sharp outburst. She had called him unfair countless times, complained about all the constraints he had placed on her as a child—all the typical grievances children had against their parents. But she had never challenged his position as sultan or his ability to rule the kingdom.

"Jasmine…" he began with anger, but stopped before the reprimand could leave his mouth. What she had said was true. Painfully true. She was now mature enough to notice his flaws as a ruler, and there was no hiding from them.

He lowered his eyes, humbled. "I am old, daughter. I look back on my mistakes and feel regret, but I can do nothing to change the past or myself now. I look forward to the day I may pass on the throne to more youthful hands, and I trust that you will do better than I."

Her gaze softened minutely at his sincere words. He took the chance to caution her once more, hoping she would accept his advice this time.

"And I believe Aladdin will learn. But you must talk to him; without trust, you can accomplish nothing together."

She nodded, concern mixing with contemplation. "I'll talk to him."

"Good. It will take work and patience to learn your roles, but I have faith in the two of you."

"Thank you," she said simply. The worry had not faded from her eyes, but his conciliatory words seemed to have lightened her mood somewhat.

"Now, no more of this dull talk. Tell me, dear, how are the wedding plans coming along?" he asked with a smile.

"They're about half-finished," she replied with less enthusiasm than expected. "I've been too busy to really think about it."

"You need to start preparing the guest list," he reminded her. "The invitations must be sent out to the farthest kingdoms soon."

"I just need to sign them. The official planners are taking care of the rest."

He looked at her, puzzled. "You have been so excited about it until now. Are you alright? Has something happened with Aladdin?"

"No, nothing's happened," she assured him. "It just seems there are more important things to think about now."

"There are few days in life that are more important than one's wedding. And one as special as yours will be recorded in the histories of the Seven Deserts," he said seriously. "I do hope the bride feels it is important enough to contribute to the planning herself."

"Don't worry about it, father," she said, sounding a little guilty. "Of course I'm still involved in the planning. I'll make sure it's a perfect day for everyone who attends."

He patted her hand as he stood to leave the room. "I trust it will be, especially for you and Aladdin. And the sooner you are married, the sooner you will be able to exercise all that you have been learning through the duties you have taken on. I will be able to rest assured that Agrabah is in good hands, cared for by my daughter's pure heart."

She finally smiled back, and as always, the sight of her contentment and gratitude eased his own worries. It had been a difficult conversation, but had ended better than he had initially thought it would.

_Asima, if only you could see her now. How she has grown, how she has become so much like you._

Despite the twinge of sadness he felt whenever he thought of his late wife, he still smiled as he walked back toward the throne room, joined silently by his guards once again. Bringing up their daughter alone had been a challenge more difficult and frustrating than any complex matter of the state, but today had proved yet again that the former was infinitely more worth it.

...**

Aladdin almost hesitated when he stepped onto her balcony. It was near midnight, dark and peacefully quiet. He'd be disturbing her from her sleep, and from what he'd heard around the palace for the past few days, she was in dire need of it. What had spurred this sudden heightened interest in governance and the kingdom's defenses was a mystery to him. Only last week she had been dragging him around the marketplace, looking for the finest cloths for their wedding banquet decorations. Now she had canceled a meeting with the wedding planners and holed herself up in meeting rooms and her own chambers to pore over administrative decrees, even issuing some of her own. It was puzzling, but he took it in stride. As he had come to learn, sometimes painfully, unexplained mood swings were not uncommon for her. At least this time she had thrown herself into a good cause.

He found the balcony doors locked. She usually kept them open for the breeze to come in, but perhaps it was too cold tonight. Carpet carried him toward the windows, and he slipped inside easily.

Rajah awoke at the sound of his footsteps and raised his head to glare at him. As amiable as he was toward him during the day, he was never happy when he visited Jasmine at night. Aladdin mouthed an apology and communicated through a few quick gestures that he would only be here for a short while. The tiger watched him dubiously for another minute before lowering his head.

He came to her bedside and looked down at her sleeping form, feeling a bloom of warmth in his chest. The sight of her was endearing, curled up with her blanket drawn tightly around herself, hair spread haphazardly over the pillows. He debated for a moment whether to wake her before tentatively placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Jasmine?" he said softly. He ran his fingers through her hair, avoiding the tangles, and smiled apologetically when she opened her eyes a crack. "Sorry to wake you up. I haven't seen you in a week, so I thought I'd drop by."

"What time is it?" she croaked.

He continued to stroke her hair, twirling one strand around his finger playfully. "It's dark outside, and everyone's asleep. Now it's time for just us."

She responded by pulling the blanket over her shoulders and turning away from him. "We'll talk in the morning," she said, voice muffled.

He frowned slightly at the cold gesture, but it was understandable. He should have dropped by earlier when she was awake.

"I hear you've been busy lately," he started, not quite ready to let her go. "The wedding planners actually came to talk to me because they couldn't get a hold of you. What's been going on?"

"Nothing. Some things just came up, and I had to take care of them," she answered shortly. Her words slowed, as if she were considering whether or not to continue. "I have to take a trip out of Agrabah soon. I'll let you know more about it tomorrow."

The vague statement piqued his curiosity. Where could she have arranged to go without him? They always journeyed outside Agrabah together, whether on short vacations or diplomatic missions. But he reined in his questions; she needed rest and clearly didn't want to be bothered at this hour. "Okay, we'll talk later. Sleep in today, alright?"

He leaned down and kissed the side of her forehead, brushing her hair back from her face. She seemed to relax under his touch, and only then did he notice how tense she had been since he had woken her up. It seemed her heightened involvement in the kingdom's affairs had taken a significant toll on her already, yet she was shutting him out instead of asking him for help as she usually did.

"You can talk to me about anything, you know that," he said gently. "I'm always here for you."

She was half-asleep before he finished his words, and he drew back with an inaudible sigh, brushing off the slight bit of annoyance he felt at her obstinate mood. Carpet was waiting at the window. He slid outside as easily as he had come in and flew down toward the city, feeling the tug of sleep on his own body before he arrived home.

...

He groaned when he awoke and realized the sun was already high in the sky. He blamed the eye mask that Genie had given him, claiming it'd help him sleep better. It helped a little too much at times.

He snatched a few pieces of fruit from Abu's stash and whistled for Carpet. By the time he arrived at the palace he'd half-finished his meager breakfast, and he stepped onto Jasmine's balcony with the hope that she was in her room and not in some far corner of the palace. A quick peek in the window confirmed her absence. He sighed and settled back on the balustrade, eating the last piece of fruit he had brought. Carpet floated leisurely around him, waiting as well.

"I should have asked you to wake me up or something," he said to his friend conversationally. "You're always up at the crack of dawn, aren't you? I've never really figured out why you need to sleep in the first place."

The slam of a door interrupted the one-sided conversation, and he looked up to see Jasmine walk briskly toward one of her closets. From her determined frown, it was apparent she was in a worse mood than yesterday.

"Jasmine," he called, catching her attention. "You have time to talk?"

She turned back to the closet. "Yeah, just let me get something." She kicked off her slippers and put on a pair of leather sandals. He couldn't help grinning at the clash of color.

"First time I've seen you wear shoes that don't match your outfit. You sure you're okay?"

"Ha. I'm okay. Let's talk."

He extended his hand. "Let's fly."

As they left the balcony, he noticed that the tension was still there. She leaned back against him and closed her eyes, allowing him to comb his fingers through her hair. Her shoulders gradually relaxed after a few minutes of silence.

"What's on your mind?" he asked curiously.

She didn't open her eyes. "My father's been bothering me. A lot. I used to always be angry with him for not understanding me or listening to me. It got better in the past few years but yesterday and today were just…" An unhappy sigh escaped her lips. "He treats me like a child and doesn't take me seriously. It's so frustrating, Aladdin."

So that was the problem. He'd tried to give Jasmine advice about her father before, but it was always a risky subject. It wasn't the best idea to openly agree with all her complaints against the ruler of the kingdom, even if the kind old man would soon be his father-in-law.

"Yeah, I got that sense when I first met you. What happened yesterday and today?"

"In general he's just frivolous. He wastes the kingdom's money on stupid things like a new menagerie when there are a lot more important things to spend our resources on. And when I tell him he should do things differently, he doesn't listen. Even if he agrees with me on some points, he doesn't do anything to change his ways."

He hid a smile at the pout on her face. "Hmm. He is pretty old, Jasmine. It's hard for someone his age to change. Some people just aren't made the way you are, always taking initiative to get what you want."

"But he does take initiative to get what he wants," she argued. "The problem is that's the only thing he ever takes initiative for. Whatever greater problems may be facing the kingdom, they all seem to take second place to his little whims."

He backed off appropriately, agreeing just enough to placate her. "I understand. I'd be frustrated too."

It worked. Her shoulders relaxed further and her voice lost its critical edge. "I guess I'll just have to deal with it for now. If my father isn't going to change then I'll just have to do more to make up for it."

"What exactly have you been doing? Half the palace seems to be running under your orders at the moment."

She hesitated only slightly before explaining. "I realized there's a lot to be done to improve the defenses and strength of Agrabah. So I'm implementing plans to make this kingdom a better place on all fronts."

"Uh…care to be more specific?"

"The border patrols are training their dogs to recognize more types of dangerous substances that could be brought into the city. This morning I just got done talking to the chief engineer about expanding the underground shelters in case of a desert storm. I've got the historian looking into legends of jinnis in other lands; don't want any enemies using that kind of magic against us."

"That's a lot already," he said in surprise. "You thought of all this in just a week?"

"I've thought of more than that."

He shook his head slowly. She was being defensive, and he realized that her father was not the real source of her stress after all. There was something else, and he was starting to feel annoyed that she wasn't telling him anything beyond cold facts. It didn't feel right to be on the outside of the wall she'd built.

"Jasmine, you are pretty amazing. Whenever you say you're going to do something, I know you're going to do it to perfection. Is there anything I can do to help?"

She paused again, and he resisted the urge to ask what was wrong and where she was planning to go on her solo trip out of Agrabah. Fortunately, she answered that question in her next breath.

"I'm going to Desrial soon to negotiate for increased trade and access to its port." She sounded more hopeful, though still tentative. "Maybe you could take care of things here while I'm gone?"

"Wow, you're taking a trip out there so quickly? I'll watch the kingdom while you're gone, no problem. But you're doing so much; why the rush?"

"I guess I've grown up. There's been a lull in the past month, no one's invaded Agrabah or threatened our lives in any way. I just started wondering when the next day of trouble would come, and I realized that it's better to prevent it from coming than to wait for it."

"That's a good perspective to have. But why are you so worried?" he pressed. "You've done more than enough to help the kingdom in the past several days. Knowing you, everything you've set out to do will be finished sooner than anyone expects. If some enemy does come calling before your projects are completed, that's still okay; we'll find a way to deal with it, just like we have every time in the past."

"I'm worried because that's what preparing for the throne does to you. Aren't you worried? You're going to be sultan soon. You'll have responsibility over the entire kingdom."

He was quiet for a moment, casting his gaze over the streets below where he had grown up, where any place could be considered home for the night and any discarded belonging a treasure to someone who was born with nothing. The entire kingdom indeed. He had been to nearly every corner of the city before he had hit adolescence; he knew where the homeless had the best chance of begging an extra coin or two, the exact times the guards switched shifts, and the locations of the most careless merchants' carts. Nothing had really changed about the city since he had left it for a better, soon-to-be permanent home.

"I used to worry. I told you about that time when you still thought I was Prince Ali, and your father presented me to the city as your betrothed; I was deathly afraid, enough to deny Genie my promise of wishing him free. I thought I'd need him to help me fulfill a role I wasn't ready to take on."

"What changed your mind? Well, besides defeating Jafar and saving the kingdom and all that," she quipped. He welcomed the light shot of humor. She was loosening up.

"Well, defeating Jafar and every other enemy that's come our way definitely helped. We've always won and preserved the kingdom, though there have been some close calls. I think we can deal with any threat now without too much worry. And we have Genie, of course. Have you thought about asking him for help in these projects you're undertaking?"

As quickly as it had come, the humor vanished from her face. "No, I haven't. Having Genie is not the point. All our victories against enemies have been about strategy and battle tactics, not about being a real ruler. Any smart soldier with magic and a bit of luck could succeed as we have. What I'm talking about is governance. Taking care of the kingdom in its day-to-day affairs."

She'd switched from the defensive to the offensive, and he felt the sting of her disapproval. It suddenly seemed that she was scrutinizing him by the same standards she accorded her father.

"I've lived on the streets for enough of my life to know what the kingdom's day-to-day affairs are," he returned. "I know the poor, the needy, the orphans, the beggars. I know how the common people think and what they want. Heck, I'm still one of them, regardless of the fact I'm engaged to you. I'd say I'm the best bet for the palace's relationship with the populace. They see me as one of them and they trust me for it."

"That's true. I didn't think of that." She turned away for a moment as if gathering her thoughts. "What have you done for the city outside of fighting off its enemies?"

"I think most of the time we've been so busy fighting off enemies that neither of us have thought much about governance," he said. It was strange that she was testing him so bluntly. "But I really think that fending for the kingdom like we have is the most important thing. Agrabah has held up for centuries through good and bad governors. The bigger danger is outside threats, and you know I'm good at dealing with those."

"Of course they're important, but I don't think they're the most important. A kingdom has to be strong from within—the entire kingdom, not just a band of loyal defenders like our group. And when there are no threats, like now, the people will be looking at how effective and fair we are in governing their everyday lives. After all, the power of a kingdom lies in its populace, not its rulers."

Her lecturing tone was getting on his nerves, but he reminded himself that he was having this conversation in order to help her. "Jasmine, I think you're worrying too much. The city likes us both just fine. We're heroes for crying out loud. And with all these improvements you're making now, they'll trust us even more in the future."

"Public opinion is a fickle mistress," she said, as if quoting a political text. "They may like us both now, but we can't take our popularity for granted. And the nobility…"

She trailed off, but the insinuation had a sharper edge than direct words. He said nothing, letting her continue to imply things that they both knew plainly. Most of the nobles frankly hated him, and the sultan was currently at an impasse with a sizable faction, unable to convince them that he had made a sound choice for a successor.

"I've been hearing whispers around the palace. They've been talking about how I shouldn't be doing so much as a woman. That I'm breaking convention and propriety with the projects I've been undertaking," she said instead.

He raised an eyebrow. Now she was choosing to step delicately? "To hell with what they think. You've never cared about how snobby nobles view you, Jasmine. Why start now?"

"Old ways of thinking are hard to change; it's just like what you said about my father. They're not going to stop me from what I'm doing for the sake of the kingdom. But the other thing they're saying is that a woman shouldn't overpower her husband. The sultan is the head of the kingdom, and the sultana is his first support."

"I never thought I'd hear you say something like that. You really sure you're okay?"

"Aladdin, I'm fine. I want to know what you think of that."

"What I think of what? The idea that a woman should be subservient to her husband? Jasmine, is this a trick question or something?" he laughed. "Of course I don't expect you to be subservient. We're equals; that was established from the beginning. You should do what you need to do to rule effectively."

"That's not my point," she said, still elusive. She looked more annoyed that he wasn't catching on. "Regardless of what we think about each other, what matters is what the people think of us, especially of your role. They expect that you will be the leader. I trust that you can be. But you first need to show evidence of leadership, not just heroism."

He finally got it. She was telling him to man up and be more responsible.

"So what you're saying is, I need to start doing what you've been doing," he said slowly.

"Yes. Think of ways to defend the kingdom, and start implementing them," she affirmed, sounding relieved.

He couldn't help but voice a bit of his frustration, though he kept the accusation out of his tone. "Why didn't you just say that in the beginning? It could have saved us a lot of time."

"Because I wanted you to realize it on your own," she said with a frown. "I didn't want to have to tell you something you should already be thinking about. I don't want to have to tell you to lead, Aladdin. If you were ready to lead then you wouldn't need me to say anything."

That kicked his annoyance level up to a point where he had to give up on diplomacy. He couldn't placate her by agreeing with what she said or get her to speak plainly without making her mad. There was simply nothing he could do to please her today.

"I'm not sure I understand you, Jasmine. You've always enjoyed having authority and making all the decisions, so I've let you. You're the one who was always going around breaking convention on what women should or shouldn't do. But now you've suddenly changed your mind and want me to take charge? And you expect me to just read your thoughts and know what you want from me? I'm confused. Maybe you can explain more."

She seemed to physically draw back at his retort, and he finally saw an apology in her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to confuse you like that," she conceded. "I've grown up a lot in the past week, and I've realized that I can't do everything on my own, nor do I want to. I want you to be a part of this with me."

Her softened tone tugged at him and he felt a little sorry for speaking his piece so harshly.

"I already look up to you because you're a good person and you love me more than I could have ever expected," she said. "But I also want to look up to you as a leader of this kingdom. I want to see you able to run the kingdom if I'm not here, and have the respect of everyone who's ever doubted you. So it's my hope that you'll take initiative to learn what you haven't learned yet about ruling. Maybe you can begin during my trip to Desrial."

That was more like the Jasmine he knew and loved. She was warm and encouraging, lifting him up instead of tearing him down by his flaws.

"Okay, I understand what you mean. I'll start when you go to Desrial," he said easily, glad that the tension had dissipated. She returned his smile and he realized how much he had missed seeing it in the past week, even in the past few minutes. He took her hand. "Thanks for letting me know what's on your mind. If anything's bothering you in the future, please tell me sooner. You shouldn't have to bear such burdens alone."

She leaned back against him as they flew back to the palace. He held her elbow as she stepped back onto the balcony even though she no longer needed such help. The gratitude in her eyes as she kissed him was enough. She might not have needed his help, but she wanted him there beside her as an equal partner in bearing responsibility over the kingdom. He wouldn't disappoint her.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Please read "Sunset" before this chapter, or it won't fully make sense._

...

Chapter 2

Her room was somewhat of a mess when he dropped in the next night. Apparently she wouldn't let the maids pack for her, choosing every article of clothing and accessory herself. He lounged on the sofa as she moved quickly around the room gathering her things, and they held a mock negotiation session to help her prepare for her meeting with Desrial's sultan. It was impressive how well-rehearsed she was.

"Well, I ran out of counterarguments," he said at last. "Though I guess I didn't have that many to begin with."

She laughed. "I just hope it goes this smoothly tomorrow."

"The sultan's your friend, isn't he? It shouldn't be a problem."

She shrugged. "So you have everything down for the next two days, right?"

"Yep. Revise the blueprints, meet with the engineers, check on the western tunnel. Should be a cinch."

"No using Genie."

He almost rolled his eyes at the pointed reminder. "I won't cheat. Maybe he'll have to zap me awake though, if I get too tired with all this work."

"A little hard work never hurt anyone," she said lightly, poking him in the chest. "Except in the beginning. Take it from a pampered princess who's been there."

The self-deprecating humor was another sign that her strange mood was fading. She was comfortable in his presence once more and wasn't antagonizing him. It surprised him how much she appreciated his willingness to help. Maybe she had just been feeling alone and overburdened; now she had him alongside to feel overburdened as well.

Amid the mess of her room, he noticed small pieces of parchment scattered in random places. Perhaps she'd taken to writing down all her plans just to keep track of the whirlwind activity she'd set into motion. He reached over and plucked one from her dresser, smoothing it out until the text was legible.

Odd. It was written hastily, full of cross-outs, and the message was cryptic.

"'The Rose. Forget who we are, then take over,'" he read. "What is this supposed to mean?"

She tossed a shawl into her bag and came over to him. "Just a thought I had about what an enemy might try to do someday. You know, the Rose of Forgetfulness. Make us forget who we are and then take power from us."

"Oh…I see." Her matter-of-fact answer was still puzzling. Were all the wads of paper lying about the room filled with speculative ideas? "But we don't fall for the same tricks twice."

"That's what we hope, at least," she replied as she took the parchment from his hand. She began gathering the rest of the scattered articles.

"Can't be too careful, I guess." He watched her with curiosity. "I definitely wouldn't want to see you forget me again."

"I wouldn't want to see you forget me either," she said over her shoulder. "Especially not so you can leave me for a certain sand witch."

He laughed. "Oh come on, Jasmine. Are you still sore about that?"

"I'm just kidding. I know you'd never try anything," she said, but sounded purposefully dubious.

"I'd never even _think _of trying anything. You know that!" He pulled her toward him playfully and met no resistance.

"I know, I know," she said, settling into his embrace. He shifted slightly to make more room and wrapped an arm around her waist. The warm bloom in his chest returned; he always loved the way she fit perfectly in his arms. He could fall asleep like this, and looked forward to the day he'd finally be able to as her husband.

"I'll miss you tomorrow," he said softly.

"I'm only leaving for two or three days."

"Doesn't matter how long."

His words seemed to bring the warmth back to her eyes, and their lips met. Her arms tightened around him, and he drew slow circles across her back as they both leaned into the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, she seemed almost wistful to let him go. But it was already dark, and if he didn't leave now, he probably wouldn't have the willpower to later. With great reluctance he wished her well on her trip one last time and called for Carpet on the balcony. She waved for a moment longer than usual as he flew off, and he saw her distant smile in his dreams that night.

...

Two nights later, he was sorely tempted to ask Genie to zap him awake. The sheer volume of what Jasmine had given him to do had kept him awake since she had left. There were simply too many blueprints to go through, too many officials to meet with, and far too much technicality in all the construction plans under consideration. Agrabah's underground shelters had fallen into disrepair, and a good half of the space was more likely to collapse and kill anyone who entered than to shield them from a disaster. That afternoon he had finished touring the only shelter located under the outskirts of the city, and had met with four royal engineers who each offered different ideas of where and how to get started on expanding the shelters for the poorer sections of the kingdom. Naturally, Aladdin favored the area where he had lived most of his life, but he listened to the engineers' arguments and finally dismissed them after an hour of useless debating. He had to sit and think in a quiet place and sort out the bewildering mass of information he'd received over the course of two days, but he was simply too exhausted.

As he sat down by the fountain in the palace gardens, he wondered just how Jasmine managed to do everything on her own without burning out. She'd enjoyed a much easier life than he had, hardly having to worry about making any decisions for herself until she'd joined him in a perpetual whirlwind of adventures. It seemed she'd caught up to him in terms of being able to endure hardship, though the challenges he'd had as a street rat were more physical than mental.

The royal treasurer had taken advantage of Jasmine's absence to send message after message essentially requesting that he cancel the costly extension projects she had ordered. Aladdin was amused that Jasmine seemed to intimidate everyone in the palace now, but at the same time it bothered him that he was late to take part in all of this. He supposed she had been right about the need for him to take initiative, though, and couldn't blame her for being disappointed in him. He was going to take the throne soon, and in order to keep it, he would have to prove himself capable of more than heroism.

Carpet had flown in at some point after he had entered the gardens, looking mildly concerned for his welfare—as much as a carpet could look concerned, anyway. Aladdin appreciated the silent company and told his friend why he hadn't returned to his hovel the night before. He likely wouldn't go back tonight either, welcoming a much more comfortable sleep in his luxurious room in the palace. Carpet looked a little disappointed that he wasn't going for a flight anytime soon and drifted in circles around the fountain, leaving him to his thoughts.

He stared at the ripples on the surface as he swirled the cool water with one hand. The night air was refreshing and the silence calmed him, giving his thoughts more coherence. He sighed and turned from the water, going over each of the engineers' plans again in his head. He could already reject one of them for not covering nearly enough of the most densely populated areas in Agrabah. The man had all but completely dismissed those areas because they were the slums. Aladdin was used to such condescension by now, but it still bothered him greatly each time he came face to face with deeply ingrained prejudices. He prided himself on his popularity with the people, as he'd already proven his worth to them despite his birth status. In the palace, however, even the people who admired him personally were still inclined to look down on everyone else beneath their small elite circles.

He'd have to choose from the other three plans, then. The detailed blueprints were in one of the meeting rooms in the palace, and it was at least a five minute walk away.

Before he could call for Carpet, a vivid flash of color on the surface of the water caught his attention. He looked closer and saw a blurry image of Jasmine's flushed face and smooth skin against warm-hued cushions. She was—

A man had his hands on her waist, and he was kissing her.

He jolted to his feet just as the profoundly disturbing image vanished. What the hell had that been? He stared hard at the gently rippling water, dark and almost colorless in the night. Had it been an illusion? Was he so exhausted that he was having nightmares while awake?

Carpet floated nearby, raising a tassel in question. He shook his head briskly to clear it, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened.

"You saw that, didn't you?" he addressed his friend, gesturing sharply at the water. "That image?"

Carpet only spread two tassels in a shrug. It circled the fountain again as if hunting for clues and came up empty.

"Was it just me? Is my mind shutting down?" he said doubtfully, still not taking his eyes off the water. A tense minute passed and nothing happened. He forced himself to calm down, taking a deep breath.

He sat down on the stone edge of the fountain and splashed some cold water on his face. "What's wrong with me?" he mused. "Two days of work and I'm already seeing things."

Carpet floated near to the ground and offered to take him up to his room in the palace. He watched the water for another minute before accepting the offer gratefully. His level of alertness was plummeting as quickly as it had risen. The water remained placid and dark as Carpet flew away from the fountain, and he shook his head again, hoping he wouldn't see such disturbing scenes when he actually went to sleep.

...

The next meeting with the engineers did not start well. After waking up late, he had rushed to the appointed meeting room with as much grace as he could muster on sleep-deprived limbs. He knew he looked more like a street rat than a future sultan, but he simply hadn't had time to prepare. The result was four stares of veiled annoyance and a thick, blank silence upon his arrival.

It took a few minutes for his mind to catch up with the first engineer's droning voice, delivering a report about a new design his staff had come up with overnight. He regarded the others with an arrogant air as he unfurled a scroll on the table. Aladdin studied it with bleary eyes. To him, the hundreds of painstakingly fine lines and stray equations were a complete mystery. He could vaguely tell that this was different from what he had been shown yesterday. Still, he figured out soon enough that the engineer had not taken his opinion into account after all. The slums were still not covered by the new blueprint, and that was enough for Aladdin to reject it outright.

The refusal of one was a victory for the others, and as the men began to bicker among themselves in the highhanded, insinuating fashion that was the language of nobles, he let himself drift off just briefly. He only regained alertness when his hand slipped out from under his chin as his head slumped forward.

"Master Aladdin?" two of the men said as one. Even half-asleep, he heard the offended sniff in their voices.

"Continue," he said, not showing any apology for his dazed state. He had learned a good while ago that he was not to apologize or feel deferential to anyone except the sultan and Jasmine. He didn't want to be anyone's master, but he didn't think of himself as merely a commoner anymore.

The meeting began to flow a little more smoothly after he had managed to wake up. He was able to absorb more information and actually make a decision on which plan to go with. But once the respective engineer had laid out the plans and all the auxiliary maps he had brought with him, the arguments really began. Major adjustments had to be made, the others claimed. The placement of entrances was illogical. The materials the man had suggested were low-grade and unsafe. And so on.

By noon the original design had been marked in too many places to count, and he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to figure out all the scribbles on it. He dismissed them at last with a frustrated order to have their teams work together and complete an improved version within the day. The men left with bows that were a little too cursory. He was frustrated with himself for not realizing earlier that he should have just told them to finalize a plan and then present it to him instead of miring him in the details of every component. It had been a giant waste of time. At this rate he wouldn't be able to accomplish everything Jasmine had wanted him to do.

To make up for lost time, he ordered lunch to be brought to him and stayed in the meeting room, staring for a long time at the copies of the blueprint he had chosen. Perhaps he could make more sense of it if he tried outlining a simpler version. He set to work, but the aftereffect of a decent meal and his accumulated exhaustion soon caught up with him. He had to take a nap, or he wouldn't be able to function.

An unknown time later, he woke to the creak of the door and familiar footsteps.

Dragging his head up, he watched Jasmine approach, her lips curved in an amused smile.

"Hey," he groaned. "Did you just get back?"

"Yeah. You've been busy, I guess." Her eyes kept moving away from his to glance at his cheek. He had probably smeared ink all over it.

"Busy can't begin to describe it. How do you do it, Jasmine? Take care of all this governance stuff, and still manage to look so beautiful every day?"

"I only started last week." She sat down beside him without removing the shawl draped over her shoulders, and hugged her arms in seeming self-consciousness. "I'll start looking ugly pretty soon, though."

"I'm going to have to marry an ugly woman?" he complained. "Oh well, I always close my eyes when I kiss you anyway."

On instinct he managed to avoid the incoming slap. He turned her proximity to his advantage and drew her in for a kiss.

For some reason she resisted, pulling back from his touch. He would have thought she was playing hard to get, especially after their argument the other day. But it was not mischief that he saw in her eyes. He saw fear instead, a vivid flash of it, and immediately thought of the harrowing vision in the fountain.

"Something wrong?" he said.

She hesitated again, and he wondered with dread what she was keeping from him this time.

"Bad breath," she said. "Not you. Me. I've been traveling since morning without much to eat."

So she wasn't ready to tell him. He forced himself to be patient, to trust her instead of some random exhaustion-induced hallucination.

"Great, my future wife has bad breath issues too," he sighed. "What a miserable sultan I'm going to be."

She seemed relieved that he hadn't pursued the question further. "So what have you been doing? You must have gotten a lot done, given how tired you are."

"Yeah, a lot has been done." It was a half-truth. By his own standards, he had done much more than he could have imagined before. But by her standards…he was afraid she would be disappointed. "This is what the construction teams have started working on so far."

He showed her the blueprints he had been drawing on his own, complete with his scrawling handwriting, alongside the ones they had gone over together before she had left for Desrial.

"I decided on this one over the others because it seemed the most balanced. It's expansive, but not too big, so the cost won't be too much of a strain, and it has entrances spread out evenly over the different parts of the city. Not impartial to one district or another."

"Great. So the work is under way then."

"Not exactly. The engineers are still getting a final draft worked out between their teams."

"But the plans that I told them to give you two days ago werethe final drafts."

"Well, apparently this one isn't anymore. They kept arguing about things to fix."

She was about to object but stopped herself and asked about the details of the diagram. As much as he tried to hide it, he had to admit to her in the end that he hadn't really moved her plans forward much at all.

It was no use ignoring the disapproving look on her face. Despite his worry for her, he felt offended that she was so critical. "Come on Jasmine, I'm new at this. I made some mistakes, but it's okay. We can have Genie fix them and make up for lost time."

At present, he didn't care that using Genie was technically cheating. He had wished for Genie's help more than once in the past two days, but for the sake of keeping his word to Jasmine, he had avoided talking to his friend altogether. Still, it was plainly practical and efficient to use Genie's power for these mundane things. The several weeks it would take for scores of human workers to carve out the tunnels could be shortened to mere minutes if Genie contributed. What was the point of wasting so much brainpower and physical effort on something that could easily be accomplished another way?

"It's okay that you made mistakes, Aladdin, I'm not blaming you," she said, her voice gentle. Nonetheless, she was still lecturing him. "But I said before that having Genie help us is not the point. We can't count on him all the time. We have to depend on ourselves and also involve as many of our citizens as we can. It's time for Agrabah's people to work together in defending the city, not just depend on a small band of heroes to do it for them."

"Okay, okay, I get it," he said before she could go on. "I'll fix up what I did wrong and get the project back on schedule." He could continue wasting time if it meant she'd be happy. But for now, he needed to know what was going on with her. "How was Desrial?"

"It was fine. A waste of time, though; the sultan didn't accept the proposal."

"He turned it down after inviting you to his city? That was pretty rude."

"Politics as usual. Desrial makes it no secret that it thinks it's superior to every other kingdom," she said, her frustration evident. She tugged her shawl tighter around herself.

"I guess we'll have to think of some other way to get a port," he said, but the port was the last thing on his mind. He noticed then how pale she was. Perhaps she wasn't feeling well; she wouldn't be wearing such a long covering otherwise. He reached forward and placed a hand on her forehead. "Did you catch something?"

"Just a little cold," she said calmly, and removed his hand. "I'm not used to traveling."

"You mean traveling on a horse and not a magic carpet. You actually look more tired than I am, Jasmine. Maybe you should call for one of the healers."

"No, I'm fine. I just need a little rest, that's all."

"You should go rest right now," he insisted. "Come on, I'll walk you to your room."

He took hold of her arm to help her up, and uncovered another hint that something was wrong. She flinched when he touched her, grimacing in pain, and he let go, a clear question in his eyes.

"It's nothing," she said too fast, not looking at him. "Just feeling a bit weak."

He stared. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"I'm fine. Let's just go to my room."

She stood up quickly, obviously nervous, and almost lost her balance. The shawl slipped from one shoulder as she recovered, and she instantly caught it before it could fall further. But not before he had seen what he needed to see. He reached for her wrist and held it firmly before she could step away, and pulled down the shawl again.

Ignoring the look of fear on her face, he stared hard at the burned skin and strange circular bruises along her arm. She was definitely not fine. Things were definitely not normal, and he almost dreaded to find out what had happened to her. The image in the water didn't seem so impossible anymore.

"What happened?" he said more harshly than he meant to. There was undeniable shame in her expression as she tore her gaze away.

"What the hell happened, Jasmine?" he said, voice rising. He had to fight to keep control of himself, over the wild thoughts that were surfacing, all rooted in the blurry vision he had glimpsed in the water. What had happened in Desrial? Why had she allowed it to happen?

"Did he hurt you?" he said darkly.

She froze. He swallowed as his worst suspicions only increased tenfold. Jasmine…she wouldn't. He knew, he just knew that she wouldn't. But somehow it had happened regardless of what he knew or thought he knew. What he had seen in the haze of a restless night had actually been real.

"What did he do to you?" he made himself continue, but there was only so much he could voice without choking up. "How much…how far did he…"

He gave up on that torturous question as she kept her silence. She was cringing, folding in on herself. He took her by the shoulders as if he could physically stop her from locking him out, barely remembering to be gentle with her wounds. "Say something, Jasmine!"

"You saw," she whispered, almost too quietly to hear. But he heard. The possibilities continued to billow out in his mind, a poisonous cloud in murky water. She knew then, that something or someone had planted that vision in the fountain. It was no trick of the mind, no illusion. That man had kissed her. But who was he? The sultan of Desrial? How had she gotten into that situation? Why had she looked so compliant in his arms?

"I saw a glimpse of something I thought was just an illusion!" he snapped, tilting her chin up firmly with his hand. He was sick of her avoiding his eyes. "I thought my mind was playing tricks on me because I hadn't slept for a day! But it was real, wasn't it? Tell me what happened!"

She finally answered with painful effort, as if pulling small blades out of her throat. "Raeven didn't want anything in exchange for the port. Except me."

So it had been the sultan after all. Jasmine's childhood friend or not, the man would soon have to pay for his despicable crime. But he had to be sure. He had to be sure that the knee-jerk instinct to place the full blame on the offending man was right. He direly hoped it was right.

"So he forced himself on you?" he pressed.

The shame in her gaze did not fade, and he felt his heart sink. At the same time the heat of rage rose to his face, blood pounding in his head, making it hard to think clearly, to keep holding her in front of him instead of pushing her away and smashing his fist into the wall.

"He slipped a drug into my drink, Aladdin," she burst out. "I…I wasn't myself. I'm sorry! I stopped him before…before it could get worse…I'm sorry!"

Her sudden confession was laden with guilt, and for a moment he couldn't comprehend what it meant. She wasn't in control of herself. She had been drugged. So she had accepted the sultan's advances. But not willingly.

Not willingly.

His grip tightened on her shoulders as his relief mixed with anger, and he wanted to crush her to him, to comfort her after this terrible thing that had happened, but at the same time he wanted to push her away for the mere fact that she had been with another man and he did not know how far it had gone before she had stopped it. Slowly, methodically, he counted to ten in silence and forced the furious chase of thoughts to cease in his mind. His hands were steady as he lifted them from her shoulders, a forceless break in contact between them. Without a word he sat down on the floor.

"It's not your fault, then, only his, that worthless piece of trash," he said in a low voice. He grew calmer as logic returned to him, fury melting away to worry and self-reproach. She was hurting more than he was. She had been a helpless victim and perhaps had even been lucky to escape with her life. He was supposed to be consoling her, not scaring her out of her wits.

"I was afraid you…no, I know you wouldn't have." He paused, affirming his own words before he spoke them. "I trust you, Jasmine. I still do."

He heard her breath of relief and reached for her hand, remembering the burn marks. "But you fought him off? Is that how you were injured?"

"Yes. I left the kingdom right after that."

He pulled the shawl further down her arm to see the extent of her wounds. They weren't too deep, but the fact that she had suffered any wounds at all was enough to incite his anger again. For a man to take advantage of a woman, and to hurt her when she refused… "He burned you? But what are these round marks? There aren't any weapons shaped like this."

As he studied the strange bruises, something else clicked in his mind.

"How did I see that in the water? I was just sitting by the fountain, and as far as I know it's just an ordinary fountain," he said slowly. "There was magic involved, there had to have been."

He looked at her calmly and without anger, but she cringed in reaction, letting him know without words that she was still keeping secrets.

"What else happened?" he said.

She didn't look away this time, at least. "I had a run-in with Saleen."

He raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"As I was on my way back to Agrabah, I stopped at an oasis, and she dragged me into the water. She apparently controls all the water in Desrial, so she saw me and R—she saw what happened," Jasmine explained. "To rub it in, she planned to show you. So that's how the image appeared to you in the fountain."

Despite the lack of detail, the story made sense. Saleen was one of their pettiest enemies. She naturally would have seized the chance to drive a wedge between him and Jasmine again. But then why had the scene in the fountain disappeared so quickly? And why hadn't the mermaid shown up to gloat, or to try to seduce him at the same time? It wasn't in her domineering, obsessive nature to do things halfway.

"How did you escape?" he asked.

"She let me go."

He felt the prick of suspicion once again. What was she keeping from him?

The guilt in her voice grew heavier. "Because the damage had been done. She didn't need to keep me anymore. It'd be worse for me to return here and have you despise me."

She bit her lip and stopped talking, and despite the fact that not all his doubts were answered, he pushed them aside for her sake. Seeing her suffering right before his eyes, struggling to keep from breaking down, suddenly made his priorities clear. He had time to ask for answers later, when they were both calm and more detached from the situation. For now, he had to stop being selfish and interrogating her so relentlessly.

"Jasmine, I don't despise you," he said softly, reaching for her. "Don't ever think that."

She shivered in his arms, burying herself in his embrace as if taking refuge from everything around them. He closed his eyes and savored her presence, the fact that she was safe and had come back to Agrabah in one piece. It was a relief how quickly his temper disappeared when he had his priorities straight.

"I'm so sorry for what happened," he murmured. "I wish I could have been there to stop him…"

His first priority should have been to protect her. He had let this happen to her, he realized, by not trying hard enough to help her. He hadn't shown any interest in the details of her trip, merely assuming that she would be fine. It had been careless on both their parts.

"I should have gone to Desrial instead of staying here," he said in self-reprimand. He imagined how it could have gone if he had accompanied her. Raeven wouldn't have dared to lay a finger on her. But she had gone alone, and now the thought of that vile man touching her, hands crawling over her body when she was helpless and at his mercy…

"I should have gone and put that arrogant bastard in his place. I'm going to go there right now," he gritted out, and started to rise.

"No! You can't!"

He stopped as her arms tightened around him. Her voice was urgent, no longer broken and weak. "Aladdin, this isn't the time for heroics. This is politics. If you go, you'll only drag everything out into the open! Both of our kingdoms will find out about what happened, and it'll only go downhill from there."

He clenched his jaw in frustration, seeing her point but refusing to accept it. "I won't just sit here after someone assaults my fiancé. It's not right. I have to go set things straight."

"Did you hear any part of what I just said? Don't be a fool, Aladdin."

He tensed at the harshness of her response, but she had already switched mercurially to her former soft, pleading tone. "Thank you for wanting to defend my honor. But you can't go to Desrial. You can't mention it to anyone. We have to just forget about it. I promise that it'll never happen again."

At the moment, Agrabah and politics and anything outside of her wellbeing meant next to nothing to him. It sickened him that she was making such a sacrifice on behalf of the kingdom, forsaking justice and letting such a terrible offense go unpunished. She was so vulnerable, beneath the tough exterior and her demands for perfection.

"That's not a promise that you can make, Jasmine. You're beautiful. You might face this situation again."

"I won't ever be that careless again. I'll make sure the next sultan who tries something loses his crown jewels before he can touch me."

He winced instinctively, though he would have no pity for anyone who tried to take advantage of her and met her wrath. But she should never have had to face a situation like that in the first place.

"I hate that I can't do anything. I wish I could do something to help you."

"You can," she said softly and took his face in her hands. "Just trust me."

Trust. The word resonated oddly within him. He had always been the one to ask her to trust him, and he had told so many lies in the beginning of their relationship that it was a miracle she had forgiven him and accepted him with open arms. It had been more than two years since then, and he had discovered that trust more than anything else was what laid the foundation for love. He had to have more faith in her. No matter what had caused her to be so distant and guarded in the past week, it was clear she still loved and needed him more than ever.

"I do," he assured her. "You've always trusted me, and I gave you far less reason for it."

They embraced again, and he was hesitant to return her kiss, wondering if it was too soon after the incident in Desrial. He didn't want her to be uncomfortable for his sake, but she apparently had no such reservations. She wound her arms tightly around him, no longer as a refuge from the world but simply in gratitude for him. The warm fire inside his chest spread and he held her even closer.

Despite everything, he smiled as they finally broke apart to breathe. "Your breath isn't that bad."

He didn't bother avoiding the light slap to his arm this time.

"You were going to walk me to my room?" she said petulantly.

"Oh, right, Your Highness."

Everything that was left unsaid would have to remain that way for now. It was more important that she rest and recover from the harrowing experience.

They walked in companionable silence toward her room. When they were almost there, he spoke again, picking his words carefully. "We've got more work to do once you get enough rest. Thanks for being patient with me. And…let me know if you want to talk about anything, okay? I know this won't be easy to forget."

"I'll be fine," she replied. They reached the door and stood quietly for a moment. He looked behind her at the bed, and suddenly wished he could lie down beside her and hold her safe in his arms as she slept. Her hand on his cheek drew his eyes back to her, and she kissed him softly, gratefully. For now, it was enough.

...

He had his hands full in the afternoon as the guards and servants who had accompanied Jasmine to Desrial finally arrived back in the city; the captain of the group was in a nervous fit after having lost the princess. Aladdin stepped in before the man could make a report to Razoul, assuring him that no one would be punished for anything. Princess Jasmine had left early of her own accord for matters that did not concern them, and they were to return to their regular duties immediately.

They obeyed without question, and Aladdin realized again how easy it was for people to accept abnormal behavior from both Jasmine and him. He supposed it had simply become routine. With an ironic smile he reminded himself to tell her later not to worry so much about the fortitude of the citizenry. If they could already handle the unpredictable, crazy lives of their soon-to-be rulers, they could handle whatever else was thrown at them from the outside.

He left the palace as the sun was setting, flying directly to his hovel. It was the place where he could think most clearly, undisturbed by the bustle of palace life and all the responsibilities he now bore. Staring out over the city from the ledge, he tried to remember how the palace used to look to him. In all its faraway majesty and gleaming perfection, it had been a haven for his troubles, where he had deposited his dreams at the end of each listless day of stealing to survive and escaping capture by the guards.

_Someday, Abu, things are gonna change. We'll be rich, live in a palace, and never have any problems at all._

He sighed. He'd been a naive fool.

But his life had never been fuller. He had friends, people he'd do anything for, and could expect the same from them. He had a kingdom depending on him whenever disaster struck. He had Jasmine.

Lately, though, she wasn't allowing him to have much at all. She was shutting him out, and he wasn't sure what to do. It was nothing like the old challenges he'd faced. She'd played games before, pretending to favor the Odiferan prince over him just to make him jealous. She'd thrown plenty of temper tantrums over petty things and acted insecure or affronted when he challenged her authority. She'd even forgotten him for a span of time under the influence of the Blue Rose. But she'd never been like this. Distant and secretive, a glimmer of anxiety and paranoia just visible under the surface. After the way she'd clung to him with such desperation today, he sensed that she actually longed to tell him everything but couldn't for some reason. The flurry of activity and defense-building that she had initiated seemed to be her way of coping with her fears, as if strengthening the kingdom could protect her from her own insecurity. Somehow he had to get past whatever obstacle was preventing her from being open with him.

So what could he do? He would prefer to ask her directly instead of continuing to dance around the issue. But being confrontational about it would only serve to distance her, especially after what had happened to her yesterday. He needed to be more discreet, to find some way to get her to tell him on her own. She didn't trust him enough to tell him at the moment. Though he knew that wasn't his problem, it wouldn't hurt to give her more reasons to believe in him. He'd do better at the governing duties she had given him, and prove that he wasn't like her father. But that would take time. He didn't want to wait that long.

An unsettling thought struck him then. It wasn't new; he had thought about it many times before but had always shoved it away, too afraid and hurt to dwell on it. One of the few secrets that he staunchly refused to tell Jasmine. He'd told himself each time that he wasn't ready, and moreover that she wasn't ready.

He had never told her about Fara. One of the most significant parts of his life before they'd met, the only other woman he'd loved, and the only person other than his mother who had crushed him with her death.

He shut his eyes and leaned back against the rough wall. After all this time, it still felt like a knife was twisting in his heart to remember her, the whole tragedy of his love for her and the haunting question of whether she'd ever really cared for him in return. He had been a young smitten fool and she the sum of his hopes, a beautiful woman who had depended on him and been happy with him, even if only for a brief time. But it had all crumbled in the end, as he had constantly disappointed her and could never fulfill any of her dreams. He had eventually accepted that it wasn't his fault she had rejected him and chosen a life of slavery in exchange for relative luxury. It was because her life was empty and she had been dying inside ever since she had been condemned to death with the tacit agreement of her own family. But despite the logic in it, the guilt remained. Part of him would always believe that if only he'd been better to her, if only he had been worthy of her faith, she would have pulled through in the end and made all the right choices.

It was part of the reason he'd been so desperate to prove himself to Jasmine throughout their relationship. He didn't want to let her down, to drive her away from him. In the beginning he'd had nightmares that one day she would wake up from the idyllic life they had begun to shape for themselves and decide he wasn't good enough for her. She was a princess, and by default he already didn't deserve her. So he'd swung between extremes, his confidence solidifying every time he won a major victory against an enemy and impressed her with his heroics, but just as quickly falling into insecurity and paranoia whenever he made the slightest mistake in her presence. In hindsight, he realized that though he had always feared that she didn't trust him enough, in essence it meant he hadn't trusted her.

He still didn't trust her enough to tell her about Fara. Jasmine had come to accept him for all his flaws, the fact that he was a commoner, his ignorance toward political affairs and everything that came with royal status, and his brashness and tendency to use Genie's magic as an instant fix instead of figuring out problems on his own. He was grateful that she could look past all of that, but he didn't think she would be able to look past this part of him. The fact that he had loved another woman, someone radically different from her, someone he had given himself to in body and heart before he had met her. Telling her about Fara would be nothing less than a disaster, he had always thought. At worst, she would completely lose faith in him and feel disgusted that she had chosen him at all. But even if she understood and sympathized, even if she tried to accept his past and her new perception of who he was, there would still be a deep impasse between them carved by his own hands. Whenever he touched her, she would wonder if he was thinking of Fara, and imagine that he might have treated Fara the same way, said the same words and promises, that he might even wish that she were still here with him. And no matter how much he assured Jasmine of his love for her, there would be no way to dispel her doubts because they were not entirely untrue. The guilt and bitterness from the whole situation would destroy them both.

At the same time, it wasn't fair to keep this secret from her. Even if it would harm them both to reveal the truth, it wasn't right to keep it in the dark forever. They would be married soon, and if he really believed that trust was the foundation of their love, he had to tell her. She would at least appreciate the fact that he would be setting the most painful part of his life in her hands to do with as she pleased. They could struggle through it together, a day at a time, and he'd answer all her questions about Fara honestly, and not hide from the memories anymore. And when they finally moved past it, it would mean there was no challenge or suffering they could not surpass together. Compared to that, all the little insecurities both of them carried now were nothing.

Maybe this really was how to get Jasmine to open up to him. Not only now in the wake of her aloof behavior, but in the long run, as a way to bring their relationship to a new threshold. He would understand if she wanted to delay their wedding after he told her. But he knew with conviction that he didn't want to get married with such a secret hanging between them. He wouldn't be able to bear her blissful ignorance as she pledged herself to him, believing that he had never loved another woman just as she had never loved another man.

Now the problem was how to tell her. He frowned; if he chose to go forward with this, every step would be painstakingly difficult, without any shortcuts or easy solutions. He had no idea how to bring it up, especially now when they had less private time together given all the responsibilities she'd taken on. Perhaps he'd arrange a quiet dinner for them alone somewhere, maybe outside of Agrabah so she was removed from all her daily worries. He'd make it a perfect night, where she had no doubt of how much he loved her. And he'd introduce the subject by asking for her forgiveness because he had kept something from her for a long time, followed by an explanation of why—he was afraid to lose her and had always been insecure, as she clearly knew. But the reason he was finally telling her was to let her know that he really did trust her with everything.

He couldn't sleep that night. The burden of his decision was like an uncomfortable fixture between his back and the floor, and he eventually woke up Abu with his constant shifting. He apologized and kept still, closing his eyes.

_What_, the monkey said groggily.

"Thinking. About Fara."

The silence was thick. Abu was the only one of his friends who knew. They seldom talked about her; Abu had never liked her in the first place, but he was always concerned when Aladdin fell into guilty reminiscence.

After a pause, Abu simply told him to go to sleep, and hopefully he'd forget in the morning.

"I'm going to tell Jasmine about her."

More silence.

The monkey scampered over to him, moving with surprising agility in his drowsy state. Aladdin swatted at the little paws that were suddenly trying to pry his eyes open. Abu chattered at him to wake up from sleepwalking.

"I'm fully awake," he said defensively. "I'm serious about this."

Abu frowned. He obviously thought it was a disastrous idea.

"I know, it's really risky. But I'm going to do it. I just need to figure out how."

His friend was already scurrying back to his pillow, muttering a resigned _oh boy _as he drew his small blanket back over himself.

"It'll be alright," he said as Abu fell asleep again. He closed his eyes. "It will."

...

_Jasmine, there's something I've been meaning to tell you._

_It's something I should have told you this earlier, and I need you to forgive me for not doing that._

_But the reason I've held off is I've been afraid. I didn't want you to stop trusting me or to see me in a worse way…I really hope that you won't, you've always been really understanding and I know you'll try your best, but…it's just…_

_It's just…_

The next morning, he and Jasmine worked together on the expansion of the shelters, and it went much more smoothly than he had thought possible. She was patient, and he was quick to learn. The combination had led to a productive few hours, and she seemed more relaxed and genuinely happy to have him there with her.

He'd looked into her content gaze and his plans to confess his secret had crumbled to pieces.

The words ceased their frantic cycling around his mind. It was no use to keep refining them. He couldn't tell her now, not when she looked like that. Not when she'd just recovered from an assault from another man and was trying to get her life back to normal again. He'd been selfish not to see that before.

That afternoon as she met with her father's advisors, he retreated to his quarters in the palace, tossed his turban on a chair with a sigh, and collapsed on the expansive bed. He stared up at the ceiling. He could still set up a nice dinner date for Jasmine tonight. It had been a while since they had gone out together alone, without their friends tagging along or any magical enemies attacking. If he really thought about it, more than half their dates were spoiled by the latter. It was almost as if their enemies went out of their way to intrude on their relationship.

The room went completely dark.

"Wha...?" He jolted to his feet, wondering if he had just jinxed himself. He was unarmed and couldn't see. If it came down to a fight—

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha, et cetera, oh hee hee ha ah ooh hee ha ha…"

Aladdin rolled his eyes and relaxed, raising an eyebrow at a small lit portion of the wall. There was a crude outline of a bat in the center of the round yellow light, a shadow made by four-fingered hands. The shadow morphed into a sloppy smile.

"Well if it isn't the hero of Agrabah. Tell me, my friend…why so serious?"

Aladdin was more than a bit perturbed by the appearance of his friend as the room snapped back to normal brightness. Genie's face was crusty white with black circles around his eyes, and the corners of his mouth were slashed, stretching his smile unnaturally across his cheeks. He looked like a Mamluk with makeup on.

"Uh, Genie, that's gross."

"Hee hee…wanna know how I got all these obscure anachronistic references?"

"No, now could you just turn back to normal, please?"

"Aw, you're no fun," Genie pouted, his extended smile now drooping. With a quick swipe of his hand the eerie makeup was gone and he grinned wholesomely. "But I still wanna know, why so serious?"

"Well…" Aladdin hesitated, sitting back down. "It's a long story."

"Oo, I got ears for long stories!" his friend proclaimed, stretching one ear out like stringy clay before letting it snap back to his head.

"I don't think I want to talk about it," he said a little apologetically.

"You don't think you want to? Or you just don't want to? Speak with some conviction, boy!"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay then," Genie said, his voice instantly normal. He sat down beside Aladdin and gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Hope it's not too serious."

"Thanks, Genie." He stared at the floor, and Genie didn't move, seemingly waiting for something. "Actually, maybe…I'd like your advice on something."

Genie's eyes lit up, but he knew to control his excitement at the moment.

"It's about Jasmine."

"Uh-huh."

"I don't know why, but lately she seems bothered by something."

"Uh-huh."

"And she's not telling me what it is."

"Mm-hmm."

Aladdin looked at him. "Well, I want to figure it out."

"Oh, I knew it," Genie said in a despairing voice. He threw a hand over his forehead dramatically. "No matter how kind and selfless she may be…she's finally decided she can't take it anymore."

"Take what anymore?"

Genie covered his eyes and pointed at the top of Aladdin's head.

"The fez."

Aladdin frowned. "What's wrong with my fez?"

"It's not just your fez, Al, it hasn't been for a while. It's THE fez, a deceptively simple but intricately woven mystery that's taken on a life of its own!"

"Um…"

Genie promptly picked him up and hung him upside down by his feet.

"Whoa! What? Put me down, Genie!"

He was thrown lightly backward onto the bed, landing on his back. He put a hand to his head, disoriented.

"Feel that?" Genie said.

"What?"

"Point proven," Genie said, shaking his head sadly. "The fez has taken on a life of its own indeed, now controlling your subconscious so that you don't even notice its insidious, gravity-defying presence anymore! And Jasmine…poor Jasmine, she knows how attached you are—literally—to that childhood relic, and can't bear to tell you to get rid of it, even though it's for your own good!"

"Genie," Aladdin said testily.

"Just kidding," he said lamely. He looked at the top of Aladdin's head. "Sorry, fez."

Aladdin rolled his eyes as Genie cleared his throat and spoke in seriousness. "So. What about Jasmine?"

"She's keeping something from me," Aladdin returned to the topic easily, accustomed to dealing with his friend's eccentric interruptions. "I feel like she doesn't trust me. And I don't think it's my problem."

"Hmm. She's never acted like that before?"

"Not for such a long span of time. It's been more than a week."

"And you're sure it's not your problem?"

"Pretty sure. She called off a meeting with the wedding planners and didn't have time to see me for a week. She was too busy, starting all these projects to strengthen the city's defenses and expand its trade and everything. I don't know what brought this on, but she seems afraid of something."

"Pre-wedding jitters?"

"Our wedding isn't that close." _And it'll be even farther away if I tell her about Fara._

"I dunno Al, it could be anything, really. Maybe she's just genuinely concerned about being responsible over the kingdom. Our little princess is finally growing up," Genie said with affection.

Aladdin snorted. "Our little princess would probably hurt you for saying that."

"Maybe you're just looking too deep into it. If you've done nothing to make her mad or distrustful, then you've got nothing to worry about. It'll pass."

"But I just know there's something she's hiding. She keeps giving vague answers to harmless questions and tries to act calm and in control when she's anything but those things inside."

"I guess you could try asking her directly?"

"It isn't that simple," he said, thinking of the image in the fountain and all the consequences it had wrought. "The more I try to confront her, the more she runs away and the less she trusts me. I don't want to put any more distance between us."

"Lil' lady sure runs fast when she needs to," Genie remarked, and propped his chin on his hand thoughtfully, materializing a stalk of straw to chew on. "Now how ta catch 'er…"

After a pause, Genie looked at him squarely. "Ye said ye tried runnin' after 'er already, son?"

"I guess you could say that."

"And she just ran faster, ye say?"

"Pretty much."

"Well then, there ain't no other option left but one. Ye wait, and don't have no expectations 'bout when she'll come back. Just trust she'll return and be happier when she does."

"So you're saying I should just let her keep going like this? With this secret-keeping and paranoia?"

"Hm, from the looks of it, it seems like the paranoid one is you, Al," Genie said, his voice losing its strange accent. The straw disappeared. "Are you afraid something bad'll happen if you don't pry the answer out of her? Do you absolutely need to know?"

Aladdin hadn't thought about that. Indeed, he had been so focused on getting answers and building up her faith in him that he hadn't thought about what Jasmine herself wanted or needed. She had the right to keep some things private, even from him…just as he had kept his secret about Fara for all this time, justifying himself with the same argument. And to think, he had planned to use Fara's story to win her sympathy and get her to trust him again. He suddenly felt ashamed to have come up with something so manipulative, using the memory of a woman he had once loved to bring the woman he now loved closer to him. It wasn't right.

"No," he said softly in response. "I guess I don't. Getting the answer from her would only serve to make me feel better, not anyone else."

"So, Al, what are you going to do now?" Genie asked cheerily.

Aladdin smiled. "I'm going to Disneyland?"

Genie's eyes widened. "Oh sweet sparkly vampires, no!"

"What? You say it all the time."

"That's because it's safe for jinnis! But it's absolutely perilous for non-jinni folk! Disneyland is Fourth Wall territory! Existential paradoxes that threaten to tear apart the very fabric of space-time, should a non-jinni ever enter and discover the Truth of his existence!"

"Okay, okay, I'll make sure to avoid Disneyland like the plague. In the meantime, I'm going to…I guess I'll give Jasmine some space. Not put any pressure on her."

"Mm-hmm."

"I'll act normal, and then she'll be more likely to act normal. Whatever's bothering her might go away naturally if she's not under a lot of stress, or she might trust me enough to tell me what's wrong. And then things will eventually go back to normal for real."

"Feet on the ground there, Tinkerbell. Let's work on 'normal-acting Aladdin' first. Not an easy feat, given how much I've rubbed off on you," Genie said proudly.

"Ha. Yeah, it'll be a challenge. Thanks for the advice, Genie."

"No problem! Now can we stop being so serious?"

"Only if you cut it with the Mamluk impressions."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"And then Simba looked up at the sky, and saw the most amazing thing."

"What?" the girl whispered.

"Against the dark, star-dotted sky, the clouds from horizon to horizon were rolling together, forming the majestic shape of his father, as proud and strong as he was in life."

"Whoa…"

"And Mufasa spoke." Eden's voice dropped to a low rumble. "SIMBAAA…"

Dhandi giggled, shattering the solemn tone of the story she had steadily built up.

"Say that again!"

Eden frowned, still using her Mufasa voice. "THIS ISN'T FUNNY, YOUNG LADY."

Dhandi only giggled more as Eden continued. "I'M HERE TO TELL YOU TO MAN UP AND SAVE THE PRIDE LANDS! AND HERE YOU ARE, STUFFING YOUR FACE WITH LARVA AND HAVING FARTING CONTESTS WITH WARTHOGS!"

The girl clutched her sides and rolled to one side of the bed as she couldn't stop laughing. Eden stood up and extended her hands like a lion's claws, hovering over Dhandi's shaking form.

"SIMBAAA…"

"Okay, okay, stop it, Eden! My side hurts!"

Eden drew back and smiled despite the interruption of her masterful storytelling. A good long laugh usually tired Dhandi out, and she welcomed anything that could make the hyperactive girl go to sleep faster.

"Well then, my little lion cub," Eden said with an affectionate ruffle of her hair, "we'll finish the story tomorrow. Now it's time for bed."

"Aw…"

"I SAID, IT'S TIME FOR BED."

"Okay."

Eden kissed her on the cheek and pulled the covers up to her neck, turning off the lights with a snap of her fingers. "Sweet dreams. You know what to do if the bed bugs bite."

"Bite 'em back," came the soft reply.

"You got it."

She stepped out the door and closed it carefully, content to see Dhandi close her eyes with a smile on her young face.

She surveyed the rest of the house with a critical eye and set about cleaning up every speck of dirt and misplaced item. Her bottle was buried somewhere in the clutter. Between her and Dhandi, a home that was spotless and perfectly organized in the morning ended up a complete mess by the end of every day, and she still wasn't sure exactly how. Luckily, it only took her a few minutes to put everything back in order before the Circle of Life would begin again in the morning.

She began humming the African chant to herself as she swept through each room with a few well-aimed blasts of magic. She multiplied her voice for effect, and by the time she was done cleaning she had a full chorus going, but at a low volume so she wouldn't wake Dhandi.

The final verse was interrupted by a knock on the door. She turned curiously at the thought of a visitor at this hour. It definitely wasn't Genie. He never knocked, preferring to fly in through the windows or seep under the door. And it was too late for one of Dhandi's friends to come by.

She opened the door and was surprised to see Princess Jasmine standing there, decked out in full battle gear. Well, she amended, as close to battle gear as a proper princess could get.

"Hi, Eden."

"Whoa, girl! Long time no see!" She swept the young woman inside her home and closed the door, making sure to lower her voice. "What brings you to my humble abode, Xena?"

"I'm…" For once, the princess sounded ineloquent. "I'm sorry to stop by so late, but I have a favor to ask."

"What kind of help might the legendary Warrior Princess need from an old-timer like me?" Eden said, turning into a wizened old woman holding an equally old plastic sword. Her hand shook with arthritis and the sword dropped to the floor with a muffled clink.

"I need you to take me somewhere. It's not close enough to get to on Carpet, so I thought I'd ask you."

"No problem!" she said cheerfully, changing back to normal. "Where to?"

Jasmine hesitated. "Seripensia."

Eden's enthusiasm waned. "Seripensia? What for? It isn't exactly the most pleasant of places for a nightly stroll."

"Yeah, I know." Jasmine fidgeted nervously, and Eden noticed the dagger hidden under her cloak. "I know this probably sounds weird, but I just need to go there. It's a secret for now."

"Ooooh, I like secrets," Eden said, but it was only half-true in this instance. She was curious as to what the princess was after in that decaying city, which most people avoided if possible. And it was such a long distance from Agrabah, Eden was surprised she had any business there. Before Jasmine could look too relieved at her seeming agreement, the jinni dropped the joking air.

"Is Aladdin coming along?" she said nonchalantly.

The innocent but probing question had the desired effect. Jasmine avoided her eyes. "No. It's just me."

So this really was a super secret mission. Eden reined in her excitement at the thought of an adventure, reminding herself that this was strange behavior for Agrabah's princess. Though she didn't know Jasmine very well, she was still suspicious of such a request and of her obvious discomfort in asking for help. Eden guessed that the princess had sought her out precisely because they didn't know each other well, thinking she might be less likely to disclose her secret.

"Didn't know you could be this sneaky, Princess," she quipped. "Well, I'm honored to go along for the ride. Let me just make sure Dhandi's safe while we're gone."

She whisked herself back to the child's room and sealed off the door, then flew outside and did the same to the windows. Any intruder that tried to pass would be repelled and then knocked unconscious if they attempted to break in a second time. Finishing up the spell, she took a last tender glance at the sleeping girl before returning to the princess' side.

"You make a really good mother, Eden," Jasmine said with a smile.

"Just trying my best," she said with beaming pride. "Now, let's go take on a dangerous and crime-filled city, just for kicks!"

"Actually, you just need to take me there. I can manage fine by myself once we're at the gates."

Eden's grin fell. "I don't think I like the sound of that. I'll be right there with you anyway, so why not let me go with you?"

The prolonged pause only raised more suspicion.

"I know this is strange," Jasmine repeated. Eden folded her arms, waiting for a valid excuse that she suspected didn't exist. "But I really need to do this on my own. And I need you to make me invisible as well."

"Um…okay, but what exactly is 'this?'" Eden questioned.

"I can't say. Please…just trust me."

Eden frowned and looked at her sternly, and for a moment she found it funny that the princess of Agrabah was fidgeting in front of her like a chastened child, resembling Dhandi whenever she was caught breaking a rule (of which there were few around this household in the first place).

"Please."

"Okay, I will." She sighed and gathered magic in her palm, casting it over Jasmine's face and shoulders to grant her invisibility to everyone but herself. "Just remember, the codeword is 'milkshake' if you want to be visible again."

Jasmine wasn't a helpless little girl. The dagger at her belt and whatever other weapons she had hidden in that cloak were obvious signs that she was an adult who could handle herself. But still, taking her to a foreign kingdom with a particularly unsavory reputation, for reasons unknown, in the middle of the night, where she would venture inside by herself, was definitely outside of Eden's comfort zone. The fact that Jasmine would be hidden by an invisibility spell didn't lessen her worry by much.

Eden waved her hand reluctantly, and there was a whoosh of air as they disappeared from her cozy home, appearing again in the open air of the Fifth Desert.

She began to regret her leniency immediately. The air was positively rancid, and it wasn't hard to see why. Scattered along the road leading to the city gates were dozens of corpses hung on poles. A nice public display of the kingdom's justice system. To Eden's surprise, the princess' reaction to the sight was minimal. She seemed so focused on her goal, whatever it was, that a bunch of rotting bodies and grinning skulls didn't faze her.

"I really don't like the feel of this," Eden said. As an afterthought she zapped herself into a sterile white bodysuit. The mask cut down on the smell somewhat.

Jasmine walked forward without her, the uncertainty in her posture now gone. She looked up at the gates, as confident as one could be when armed with a dagger and an invisibility spell. Eden had to admire her. Genie wasn't kidding when he said Aladdin liked Jasmine for her spunk. Still, the jinni ventured forward, about to make another appeal to let her come along.

Jasmine seemed to anticipate it, and put a hand on her arm. "Just wait here for me. I'll be out in a few hours at most."

"I'd be a lot more at ease if I knew what was going on," Eden replied with a disapproving frown. She shed the bodysuit and crossed her arms again, acting every bit like a concerned mother with a rebellious teenager. The thought was frightening; what if Dhandi did this to her too when she reached Jasmine's age? How could Eden keep up her image as a 'cool mom' while keeping her child safe? She reminded herself to take out some good parenting books next time she happened to pass through Alexandria.

Jasmine shook her head. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."

Eden opened her mouth to protest but decided it was useless. Jasmine had made up her mind about going in alone. As she watched her disappear into the streets, Eden realized that her whole habit of subservience to humans hadn't faded. The urge to serve and please was still strong, though she was now technically no one's slave but Dhandi's. It bothered her a little that she hadn't really changed at heart; she had made a resolution this year not to spoil Dhandi too much anymore, because being a good mother meant doing what one thought was best for her child, not always going along with what the child wanted. It ought to be the same with all the other humans she cared about.

Eden debated with herself whether to go inside and accompany Jasmine after all. Or perhaps to sneak inside invisibly and trail her, to make sure that she was okay without intruding on her privacy. But the promise she had made held her back. She hated breaking promises. She'd had enough masters break their promises to her to know the pain and wrongness of the act.

So she opted to stay, hard as it was. Time ticked by, marked only by the flapping of dead men's clothes in the breeze. How courteous of the executioners, she thought. A few centuries ago, they had killed all their criminals stark naked.

"Not that I'm complaining," she said out loud. She eyed the nearest half-rotted corpse warily and decided not to go there. Talking to herself would suffice.

"So Eden, you think you made a dumb choice there?"

"Well, it's Jasmine's dumb choice first, isn't it?"

"No excuses."

"It's too late now anyway."

"Earth to Eden! No it isn't! Be responsible! Go in after her!"

"Earth to Eden…that's a good one. Mankind's been searching for a way back there forever."

"Now isn't the time for jokes, you know that."

She finally turned to the closest grinning skull to escape her nagging conscience. "You guys think it's funny, don't you?"

It was remarkably easier to pass the time when she incorporated a third party into the conversation. Soon she allowed a fourth, then a fifth to join, and found their personalities rather captivating.

"Har har. You ain't no pirate. This is the Seven Deserts. If you're gonna lie, at least put some effort into it."

"Bristlin' barnacles, I am a pirate! I jus' sailed a liddle too far inland!"

"Would you two stop arguing already? We're dead. There's nothing left to fight about."

"You shut yer trap!"

"Come to think of it, mate, there might be something worth fightin' over after all. I think our buddy here's a bloody woman!"

"Wha…yer right! I guess it was all that rotten flesh that hid her feminine charms…"

Eden eventually tired of her companions' sense of humor as it grew progressively dirtier. Lapsing back into silence, she tapped her foot and checked the time on a few dozen wristwatches, changing them every few minutes. Jasmine was taking an awfully long time, and she seriously considered going in after her.

Before she could decide to act, however, Jasmine appeared at the gates, moving with such stealth that Eden hadn't seen her approach.

She let out a breath of relief and couldn't help scolding the princess. "A little bit longer, and I was going to come looking for you. Now can you tell me what you went in there for?"

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, Eden. But no, I can't tell you," Jasmine said, still apologetic though the nervousness was gone. It seemed she had accomplished whatever she had set out to do in this wretched city. "Let's just go back to Agrabah."

"Hmph. Well, I guess I should feel honored that you trust me more than you trust my loud-mouthed lump of a boyfriend," Eden said, reluctantly letting it go. Jasmine had gotten out of Seripensia safe and sound. The whole worrisome ordeal was behind them now. She just hoped Jasmine wouldn't make more requests like this in the future. There was only so much her motherly heart could take.

Eden transported them back to her home, thoughts already turning elsewhere. Drawing out a pocket mirror, she looked at her reflection with a frown. Prolonged exposure to the stench of dead bodies was certainly not good for the skin.

"Speaking of which," she continued, "I'd better get some sleep so I can look decent for our date tomorrow."

Jasmine looked relieved that she wasn't questioning her any further. Eden smiled inwardly at the sight. She'd seen it on Dhandi's face many a time.

"Thanks for all your help," Jasmine said, hugging her. "Hope you have fun with Genie wherever you guys decide to go."

Eden couldn't resist giving a final parental warning. "Hope you don't get into any trouble with the secrets you're keeping, missy. If you ever need help, just call for me, okay? I'll be listening for you."

"Thanks, Eden. Have a good night." Jasmine smiled, obviously having no intention of ever disclosing her secret. Eden decided not to let it bother her for now. Dhandi was waiting inside, and she had the strong urge to check if the protective spells had held even though she knew they had. Turning into a fly, she buzzed a goodbye to the princess and zipped inside her home.

...

She yawned again, not even bothering to hide it this time, and he couldn't help but smile. The advisors pretended not to notice their princess' inadvertent rudeness and continued their reports.

She leaned against his shoulder in an unexpectedly sweet gesture when they took a break and walked down the hall to get some fresh air. He kissed the top of her head and she laughed lightly.

"Tired today, huh?"

"Yeah. Maybe I'm still a little sick."

"Go rest, then. I'll handle the rest of these boring meetings myself."

She shook her head stubbornly. "I have to make sure you don't resort to fruit juggling again."

"How'd you know?" he quipped.

They sat outside in the garden, shaded by trees. It was one of their favorite spots, far from where the guards usually patrolled, quiet and secluded so they could enjoy each other's presence in peace.

He picked at the grass idly with one hand, holding her against him loosely with his other arm. He savored the feel of her soft skin, her slender form a gentle weight against his side. She soon drifted off to sleep, and he smiled to no one, feeling thankful that today was going so well. It had hardly been a day since he had decided to give her space, and she was already opening up to him.

Taking care not to wake her with any sudden movements, he lay down slowly on the grass and settled her carefully against him. She shifted instinctively and rested her head under his chin. He began to hum an old song, not bothering with the words.

...

The rest of the day wasn't as idyllic. She berated herself for having taken an overly long nap and was annoyed at him for not waking her up. He wisely backed off before he could attract more of her irritation and left her alone for the afternoon. It felt a bit wrong to escape so conveniently instead of persevering and trying to reason with her. But he supposed he'd learned enough lessons about how the latter wasn't a very fruitful approach.

He returned to the palace in the evening, half-expecting to find her asleep again from exhaustion. As he flew near, he was surprised to see she had left the balcony doors wide open, as if she had been waiting for him to arrive.

"How was the rest of your day?" he asked.

"Good," she said from the inside of the room, seemingly occupied with reorganizing her things.

"Dinner?"

"The servants are bringing it soon."

She put away the papers she had been shuffling around, surveying the room with a scrutinizing eye. He watched her with slight amusement.

"Afraid Abu's been sneaking around?"

She laughed. "Maybe. I never seem to be able to find what I'm looking for anymore."

"I'm sure Abu would be happy to clean out your room for you then. Iago too."

He moved a few cushions and a low table outside so they could eat on the balcony. The sun was half-immersed in the horizon, the rosy hues of the sky adding a warm tone to her skin.

"What?" she finally said in the middle of the meal. She folded her arms self-consciously.

"Nothing." He looked away with a poorly hidden grin.

"Aladdin…" she said in playful warning.

"You've got food on your chin. Wanted to see how long it'd take you to notice."

Before she could reach up and discover the trivial lie, he took her chin in his hand. "Wait, let me get it." He ran his thumb over the curve of her jaw and drew her in for a kiss.

"Hey," she protested against his lips, but she was smiling.

"Hi," he said softly when he pulled away.

She stared at him in silence, her expression a strange mix of adoration and hesitation. He thought he saw her lip tremble before she spoke.

"Is it alright if I borrow Carpet tonight?"

"Uh, sure. You wanna go for a ride or something?" His own words touched on an old memory, and he didn't miss a beat. "You know, we could get out of the palace, see the world."

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously, playing along. "Well...is it safe?"

"Sure. Do you trust me?"

Her face paled, and she almost didn't respond. It was impressive and maybe a little pathetic how engrossed they both were in this sappy little reenactment.

"What?" Her voice faltered.

"Do you trust me?" he repeated. Instead of offering his hand, he reached forward and touched her face.

Without warning she flinched away, terror flitting across her features. But she quickly recovered and took his hand in her own, holding his palm against her cheek. He could feel her pulse pounding just beneath her flushed skin.

"Are you okay?" he said, disturbed.

She didn't answer, merely pulling him close and kissing him. He held still, the romantic mood he had so carefully built up now completely shattered. She rested her forehead against his, exhaling shallowly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I couldn't help it. Remembering. Having dinner like this, and how he sounded…"

She broke off as he tensed, her words coming a rush. "You know it won't be easy to forget, you said—"

"I know," he said. "I know, it's okay."

"But you're nothing like him, I didn't mean—"

"It's okay."

He slowly pulled away from her, taking her wrists in a gentle but firm grip. He set her hands carefully at her sides and let go.

"I'm sorry I'm like this, just fine one second and the next, I—"

"Don't apologize. You didn't do this to yourself," he said. "It's not your fault."

She bit her lip, staring at him helplessly.

"You wanted to borrow Carpet for the night?" he said evenly.

"If that's okay with you."

"Of course, it's fine. A nice relaxing ride would be good for you, I think."

She nodded, looking down at the half-finished meal between them. Neither of them had any appetite left.

He wanted nothing more at the moment than to take her in his arms and let her pour out everything, to let her cry if she needed to, and to tell her he could make it all disappear. But he couldn't. It was maddening and cruel, the rift that had suddenly opened between them. She was tense and distrusting, wracked by guilt and the fresh wound of memory, and he couldn't even touch her without fearing that he'd make it worse. He could only assure her that he was here and he wouldn't leave. And even then he had to be careful with his words, as he had learned tonight.

"I love you," he said. At least that was still theirs, he was certain.

She smiled weakly, returning his words, and put her hand in his.

...

Aladdin was quiet and pensive on the trip back to his hovel. Apparently something was still wrong between him and Jasmine. Carpet didn't pry, merely taking the quickest route without any fun tricks or sightseeing. Aladdin was not in the mood to talk; that phase had ended several days ago.

_Something's off about her, Carpet. Wish I could figure out what it is._

_Should've asked today about what's bothering her. Slipped my mind._

_She's insecure about something. I think that's why she keeps criticizing everyone, including me._

Aladdin often repeated himself unintentionally when he talked to Carpet. Carpet had gotten used to it; his friends tended to forget that he was not like the other faceless objects humans favored for one-sided conversation. In fact, his memory capacity was nearly as extensive as Genie's, though the latter didn't utilize his much. Still, Carpet listened and nodded, and tried to offer consolation and advice as much as his limited communication abilities allowed. It was this current phase that made him feel rather obsolete, reduced to the faceless object used for transport.

Carpet wished Aladdin would say something. Silent melancholy was not his nature.

He finally spoke when they neared the hovel. Carpet perked up at the sound of his voice, though it was subdued and absent of cheer.

"Carpet, I need you to do me a favor," he began, leaping lightly onto the window ledge before Carpet reached it. He turned around to face his friend. "Jasmine wants to be alone tonight. She needs to relax. Can you take her for a ride?"

Carpet straightened and gave him a thumbs up with one tassel. The corner of Aladdin's mouth lifted in a half-smile. "Thanks. She's waiting for you now."

He wasted no time in fulfilling the request. Aladdin's hovel vanished amid the myriad buildings of the city as Carpet took the same direct route back to the palace. He wondered what was bothering the princess so much that she would want to fly alone instead of with Aladdin. Usually whenever something troubled her, she would seek out Aladdin and resolve the issue over a long flight around the city.

Jasmine was still inside her room when Carpet arrived. Gliding in, he came to a stop by the divan. She looked up from sorting out her things from several open drawers and chests, acknowledging his presence with a distracted smile.

"Just give me another minute, Carpet. I'm almost ready." She quickly put away the scattered articles in her desk and tucked a small pouch into her cloak. "Alright. Let's go."

He let her settle comfortably before rising from the floor and starting out of the palace at a leisurely pace. He would fly as smoothly as possible, maybe take her to the forests or the plains, somewhere full of life but tranquil and quiet.

"Let's head for the desert. Could you fly faster?" she said.

Carpet was a bit surprised at her choice of destination, turning his tassels up in a questioning gesture. She hesitated as she looked down at him, one hand going to the pouch in her cloak.

He inadvertently slowed when she opened her palm and revealed two shiny pieces of a golden scarab.

"I know it's strange, but there's something I need to find in there. The Mirror of Fiereve…it's important. Please, keep flying."

It was one of the many times Carpet wished he could talk. Tassels could only be so expressive, and at the moment they couldn't communicate everything that he wanted to ask. Above all, why was she going to the Cave of Wonders alone?

He relented at the pleading look in her eyes, but he was reluctant to pick up speed again. It seemed Aladdin did have a cause for worry after all.

As if she had read his threads, she spoke again in a more urgent tone. "This is a secret between you and me, okay? You can't tell anyone. I need your help, Carpet. Please trust me on this one."

He continued toward the desert, keeping the ride as even as possible. He'd have to fly far enough out so no one was around to see the Cave when it rose from the sand, but the urge to turn back grew stronger the farther away he flew from the city. His memories of the Cave were not pleasant. He had spent almost all of his existence in that ageless, pristinely preserved cavern, in complete separation from living company and open air. Waiting, ever since he had accompanied a Diamond in the Rough thousands of years earlier on an unsuccessful expedition for the lamp. The man had touched a pile of treasure by accident, sealing himself and Carpet inside the Cave forever. And Carpet had found then that forever meant something very different for humans.

Jasmine glanced back nervously every once in a while as if measuring their distance from the city, or perhaps making sure they were not being followed. Carpet steeled himself and shoved away his own reservations, remembering his promise to Aladdin. While it was obvious that this was not going to be a relaxing night, he had a duty to take care of the princess as best as he could, and that meant putting her comfort before anything else.

"Almost there?" she asked.

He nodded, brushing her hand with one tassel. She smiled faintly and looked ahead, anticipating their destination.

He finally slowed to a stop when he judged they were far enough from the kingdom and any trade routes, and she drew the pouch from her cloak and snapped the scarab pieces together. Carpet didn't need to remind her to hold on tight as the beetle sprang to life and hovered before them for the briefest of moments before zooming off in a brilliant stream of light. He shot forward in close pursuit, following every turn and arc until it embedded itself in a hill of sand. Two glowing eyes flashed and blinked once before the ground began to quake and dark clouds swirled overhead in a brief thunderstorm. Jasmine shielded her face from the harsh wind, paling at the sight of what emerged from the sand.

The head of the beast took shape and its mouth yawned wide open as if to swallow them whole. He felt Jasmine flinch when the booming voice issued forth.

"WHO DISTURBS MY SLUMBER?"

Her grip was as tight as a vise on Carpet's front edge. "It is I, Jasmine. Princess of Agrabah."

As the Cave paused in seeming deliberation, Carpet realized that she had no guarantee of entry. She was desperate enough for this mirror to take her chances.

"YOU ARE NOT THE DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH."

The tiger's glowing eyes narrowed, but to Carpet's surprise it did not sink back into the ground immediately. He felt an unnatural prickling in his threads as the Cave's scouring gaze passed over him and riveted on the princess.

Jasmine spoke up unexpectedly before Carpet could caution her otherwise. "I come for the good of my kingdom, nothing else."

The Cave seemed to ignore the interruption, thundering its verdict. "BUT YOU ARE A DIAMOND AMONG PEARLS. ENTER, AND TOUCH NOTHING BUT THE MIRROR!"

The tiger's maw opened further and cast a fiery light over the surrounding dunes. Carpet found himself flying inside for the second time in his existence. He didn't want to stay here any longer than he had to, and he knew she felt the same.

Jasmine glanced about nervously at the vast, dark cavern that opened up around them beyond the first flight of stairs. The path below was narrow and winding, the steps half-crumbled in places, a precarious journey for anyone on foot. He could see her imagining what it might be like to come here on her own as Aladdin had. Carpet suddenly felt very glad that she had asked him to help her, regardless of the reason behind her trip. She trusted him enough to take her safely through the Cave, to be her only guide in a dangerous, foreign place.

She gasped in awe as they flew through the narrow door at the end of the long passageway. Carpet was intimately familiar with the first hall, a space the size of an arena piled high with gold, precious gems, and the finest of crafts. But it was Jasmine's first time setting eyes on such a place, a storeroom of riches beyond mortal imagination. She took in their surroundings in hushed silence, eyes wide and wondering. Carpet flew on without slowing down, and she shifted her weight, making sure not to brush any of the gold by accident.

He navigated the rest of the way with ease, knowing the layout of the Cave without having to think. Though Jasmine was clearly curious about all the rare items they passed, she did not ask him to stop. At last he flew into the room that contained the object she sought. The chamber of mirrors. He had usually avoided this place during his long stay in the Cave. It had an extremely disorienting effect on humans and carpets alike, though it was much worse for the former, as Jasmine would soon find out.

She took in a sharp breath of surprise at the sight of her reflection in a thousand mirrors. Carpet continued cautiously, as some of the mirrors were floating and had the ability to follow them if one gave them as much as a glance. It would take a little time for him to locate the correct one in this massive collection. He didn't know much about the Mirror of Fiereve, but he remembered its unique appearance the day it had been added to the Cave of Wonders.

Carpet had to slow down and stop to avoid contact with the floating mirrors. He should have told Jasmine to close her eyes before they had come in here, but it was too late; there was already a sizable group of mirrors trailing after them, and the longer he stopped, the less room he would have to maneuver as they surrounded him.

"Carpet, where is it?" she said, a little worried. He paused, gaining his bearings, and went the longer route where there were fewer obstacles. Unexpectedly, she stopped him along the way, staring into a long floor-length mirror. Carpet saw only their reflection in the glass, but he knew from the confused expression on her face that she was seeing something very different. She moved closer almost unconsciously, as if trying to make out every detail of the image. Then she flinched, looking around wildly as if for a voice, and Carpet moved backward at once.

She gave him a firm tug, urging him onward. But she soon looked into another mirror, her expression changing to one of wistful wonder. She actually smiled and waved at the invisible image before moving on.

"Carpet, where's the Mirror?"

He hesitated, still unable to find the one she wanted in the dizzying display before them.

"I guess we have some time. Just make sure it's the right mirror before you tell me which one to touch."

He had hesitated too long. One of the mirrors that had been slowly trailing them had caught up, and she let out a soft cry of dismay. She wrenched her gaze away, disgust twisting her features.

"But I had no choice," she whispered to herself.

Her abnormally fast changes in emotion were alarming, and he tried to hurry ahead, but again they were stopped by another floating mirror in the shape of a seashell. She didn't dwell on it this time, telling Carpet to move immediately. But this one was more persistent than the others and followed close behind. She almost pushed it away with her hand but caught herself in time. Preoccupied with trying to escape it, Carpet carelessly flew into a hexagon of long mirrors that closed around them.

Jasmine quickly shielded her face with one arm and whirled around, eyes wide and fearful as she confronted the invisible images on all six sides. Then she froze. He patted her hand with a tassel, trying to tell her to shut out whatever she was hearing, that it wasn't real. She all but ignored him, fully engrossed in the illusion.

"You just wait," she said in a hushed voice, terror warring with tenacity. "I came to this Cave to make sure I don't fail."

Her bravery faltered and she closed her eyes with a shudder, pulling sharply on Carpet. He was already rising, clearing the top of the mirrors in a second.

"Carpet," she pleaded, "do you remember where it is yet?"

As if on cue, he caught a glimpse of unpolished, coarse wood through the mass of reflections. Pointing excitedly with one tassel, he took off for the far wall, moving with precision and purpose. He put on more speed when he noticed that nearly the entire room had come to life, glass surfaces all gravitating toward the single human presence in their midst. Jasmine ducked down and let go of Carpet's edge, covering her eyes with her hands. She was shaking, overwhelmed by the multitude of images and voices bombarding her mind.

"Carpet, go faster! You have to find the Mirror now! Please!" she begged. Her voice rose in volume; she must have been trying to drown out the sounds, but the only thing Carpet could hear was her desperate shouts echoing around the chamber. With a burst of speed he darted over the last obstacle and brought her directly in front of the Mirror of Fiereve.

The mirror stood out in his memory because of its peculiar make; it was the only one in the room that showed no reflection at all. Within the roughly carved wooden frame was a blank, opaque pane. Jasmine reached forward tentatively, ignoring the dense press of mirrors around them, and brushed the frame with her hand.

The room froze instantly.

She held her breath and turned her head cautiously, confirming that all of the mirrors had indeed stopped moving. He assumed that all of the illusionary images had vanished as well, leaving behind a plain reflection of her face. She exhaled in relief and quickly took the Mirror of Fiereve from the floor. He needed no encouragement to get her out of there as fast as possible.

Jasmine was silent on the short trip out of the Cave. Carpet could feel the tension seep out of her once they reached the surface and were lifted up by a draft of cool air. Behind them, the Cave sank into the sand once more, and he was glad to see it gone. They spent a few minutes combing the sand for the pieces of the scarab, aided by the light of the moon.

"Well, I'm glad that's over," she said wryly. "Let's go home."

She didn't ask him to hurry, content to sit back and rest while he flew at a relaxing pace. While Carpet was happy that she was finally loosening up, he was a little dismayed that she had fallen quiet. During most of the ride, she was preoccupied with the mirror in her hands, turning it over to inspect every part of it. Carpet wondered what she planned to use it for and why she wasn't telling anyone. Aladdin was right to worry about her. She was keeping suspicious secrets, and now that their challenging quest was over, Carpet found himself in a tight spot. His first loyalty had always been to Aladdin, but he didn't want to break Jasmine's trust. Either way, someone would be hurt and get angry with him. His dilemma was still unresolved when they reached Agrabah, and Carpet grew more nervous as he passed over the quarter of the city where Aladdin lived. As usual, his distress went unnoticed by his passenger.

They finally reached the balcony, and she stepped off gracefully with the mirror tucked under one arm. She waved goodbye with a grateful smile and touched a finger to her lips as a reminder of the promise he had made. Giving her a half-hearted thumbs up, Carpet drifted back toward Aladdin's hovel, wondering if he had done the right thing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

There was almost no warning for what happened the next night.

"His Highness has been poisoned! He's already lost consciousness! You must hurry!"

The walls of the corridor were a blur as he burst from his chambers and raced toward the other side of the palace, swinging himself onto Carpet the moment his friend caught up with him. He ignored the frightened servants and hapless guards who scrambled to the sides of his path, focused entirely on his destination, the royal dining room. Yet in his mind's eye the only thing he could see was Jasmine's harrowed expression, full of secrets and fear of some vague threat she alone knew about.

Almost no warning indeed. The past two weeks had been full of glaring signs that something was wrong, but he hadn't done anything except back off from them! Gritting his teeth, he shoved down his fury for now. There was no time to waste.

"Genie!" he shouted before he reached the open door, jumping off the carpet and hitting the floor at a seamless run. He spun past Razoul's hulking form and took in the scene before him. The sultan lay pale and unmoving on the floor, one hand limp over his chest.

"Reporting for duty!" Genie appeared in a dark green outfit and gave him a jaunty salute.

"The sultan's been poisoned, you have to save him right now!"

The outfit and helmet vanished in an instant as his friend reacted with supernatural speed. The sultan's body was surrounded by a dull blue glow, and a soft mattress materialized beneath him. Aladdin knelt by the old man's side. He was completely still, eyes open and unseeing.

"He's not breathing," he said with dread.

"Don't worry, it's just my magic," Genie explained somberly. "I'm keeping him frozen so the poison can't spread."

Aladdin nodded in relief and stood to his feet when Razoul grabbed him by the shoulder.

"The sultan's advisors!"

He turned and noticed for the first time the two other figures sprawled beside the dining table. He recognized one of them as the royal historian, a kind old man who'd always treated him with respect. Before he could say anything, magic shot forth from Genie's hands, casting a brilliant glow over the polished floor. But the streams of light fizzled and disappeared before they even reached the men's bodies. Genie's arms fell to his sides.

Aladdin rounded on him. "What are you doing? You have to save them!"

His friend shook his head sadly. "They were gone already. I can't do anything for them now."

"No…" Aladdin wrenched his eyes away, hands tightening into fists. Two men had just died right in front of him, men he could have saved if he had just gotten here a little faster or noticed them sooner. He had to physically step back under the crushing impact of that knowledge.

Razoul cursed beside him, looking down in grave concern at the sultan's still form. "Get a hold of yourself, street rat. We have no time to waste! The sultan is still in danger."

For a moment, the air seemed to condense and slow around him, blocking out the sounds of Razoul barking orders to his guards and rushing out of the room, Genie's attempts to ease his guilt, Iago's shocked outburst as he and Abu arrived. He should have seen this coming. He should have been able to stop this before the poison had even entered the palace, before two men had died right in this room. The sultan had almost been the third.

Almost.

"Genie, how were they poisoned?"

"The wine." Genie gestured at the upturned goblets among the other fallen tableware on the floor. "It was pretty strong stuff. Has the feel of dark magic."

He felt his blood chill.

"Jasmine," he whispered.

A second later he bolted toward the door, terror shooting through him with each step. What if the assassin had gone after her next? He had just been standing around stupidly, not realizing the danger she might be in!

She burst through the door before he reached it, flanked by Razoul. He halted at her sudden appearance, heart still pounding but now filled with blessed relief. On instinct he shot forward to catch her when she tripped. Her hair fell over her distraught face and she looked up at him for a frozen moment, eyes wide with fear. Then she wrenched away from his arms and ran toward her father's still form. He followed her, gut twisting at the sight of her anguish.

"Jasmine, it's alright. He's alive, Genie's not going to let him go." He reached her side and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

She didn't look at him, staring down at her father's ashen face. Her eyes traced the blue glow surrounding his body, and Genie answered her question before she could voice it.

"Magical poison. In the wine. I'm keeping the poison from spreading, Jas, but I can't get it out of his system. I'm already pushing the line here with mixing magics."

"What kind of magic is it?" she asked, kneeling down. She was shaking. Aladdin knelt beside her. He could feel the barely contained panic just beneath her tense countenance, and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.

"Dark," Iago said. "The high grade, 80 proof type."

She didn't react at all, simply continuing to stare down at her father.

"We don't know who did it," Aladdin began, eyes narrowing at the thought of their unseen enemy. He had a few guesses as to who it could be. "But we'll find out for sure, and they'll get what's coming to them."

He stood and drew her up with him. Iago flapped up to his shoulder.

"Come on Al, how many bozos do we know who throw around this nasty brand of magic?"

"One too many," Aladdin said tightly, not looking at the parrot. "This isn't like any of them, though, to just poison the sultan and not show up to gloat or attempt a takeover."

"Genie, how long can your spell last?" Jasmine said steadily. The initial shock of the scene seemed to have worn off.

"For an indefinite time. But someone has to be here to guard him. Mr. or Ms. Wannabe Sultanicide probably won't be happy to know that the poison didn't instantly kill him."

"There must be an antidote," Aladdin said, letting go of her shoulder. "I'm not going to sit around waiting for the assassin to show up while I could be saving the sultan's life."

"Two possibilities," Genie said. "The Tree of Renewal, and the Elixir of Life."

"Oh, this is going to be a swell adventure." Iago covered his face with one wing. "Two of the hardest places to get to without becoming lake monster chow, dog chow, or worm chow in the process."

Aladdin ignored the short argument between Abu and Iago as he turned toward Jasmine. There was frighteningly little hope in her eyes. She looked haunted, as if she'd finally reached the end of her line. Had she known something like this would happen? Had there actually been a good reason for her paranoia? He shook his head and didn't let himself dwell on it. He would berate himself later for his shortsightedness and anything else that was his fault, but now he had to act.

He grasped her hands in his own. He wanted to restore her hope, to promise her that everything would be fine. "I'm going with Genie. You'd better stay here."

He touched a finger to her lips when she tried to protest. "You have to stand in for your father as the sovereign of Agrabah."

"But—"

He shook his head and she quieted. They both knew his limits and his strengths. He couldn't run the kingdom at this point. He simply wasn't ready. But he could definitely retrieve an antidote for a magical poison.

"Go," she said to him then. "Genie, call Eden—"

"Already here, sweetheart." Eden appeared with Dhandi, surveying the situation with a serious frown. In a second she was wearing the same kind of dark green outfit that Genie favored in many of his jokes. She regarded him and Genie sternly. "Off you go, men, on the double! We ladies'll hold down the fort here! Hup two!"

Aladdin let Abu and Iago accompany him as he stepped onto Carpet once again. Genie predictably saluted to Eden, dressed in the same clothes as before.

"Yes sir—er, ma'am! Let's roll out, boys!"

He caught Jasmine's gaze and held it for a brief moment, imparting a strong promise without words. He'd save her father. Whatever would happen after that, however they would confront the secrets she had been keeping, they'd have to handle when they came to it.

The light blinded him momentarily as they left Agrabah in a flash of Genie's magic.

"Let's move," he said shortly once their surroundings became clear. There was no room for mistakes.

...

Eden surveyed the living room after Dhandi had finally fallen asleep. With a sigh she zapped the several broken windows and shattered television into brand new condition, and levitated all the picture frames back into their proper places on the shelves. She shook her head in self-rebuke, not too keen on the rest of the cleanup job. Teaching Dhandi to play golf inside the house had definitely been a bad idea. Next time she'd have to stick to mini-golf, if anything.

She was about to launch into an extra-speedy cleaning frenzy when Genie's voice rang inside her head.

_Eden!_

"Whoopsie daisy!" She jumped in surprise, dropping several 9-irons and putters. The loud clang made her jump again and then groan in exasperation. The racket had surely woken Dhandi.

"G-man, what's the matter with you? Can't you see a lady's busy—"

_Someone just tried to assassinate the sultan with poison! You're needed here right now!_

"Eden, are you okay?" Dhandi called from her room.

"I'm fine, sweetie," she said distractedly, the fallen golf clubs completely forgotten.

_Al and I are leaving to find a cure. We need you to guard the sultan!_

She snapped her fingers, changing out of a maid's outfit back to her usual attire. "On it!"

She swept into Dhandi's room and snatched the bewildered girl right out of bed.

"Sweetie, no time to explain, we're going to the palace now!"

"Okay," the girl managed to squeak as they vanished together in a cloud of dust.

They arrived in one of the dining rooms, and Eden automatically tightened her grip on Dhandi's hand at the scene before them. Their friends were all there, gathered in half-shock around the sultan. He lay pale and unconscious on a low mattress, his incapacitated form surrounded by a blue glow. Eden looked at Genie with unspoken alarm on her face, and found the gravity in his gaze unnaturally chilling.

"Go," Jasmine was saying. "Genie, call Eden—"

"Already here, sweetheart," Eden interrupted gently. She took one glance at the princess and felt something prick at her heart. The young woman was barely holding herself together, but she was still desperately trying to be strong for everyone else. Aladdin saw Eden and nodded, drawing back from his fiancé and stepping onto Carpet.

She frowned deeply, feeling real anger for the first time in a long while. She had expected an immediate confrontation with the assassin, where she could jump right into the action and set things right. But that was clearly not the case. The harrowed expressions on her friends' faces told her no one knew who or where the assassin was.

Their priority was saving the sultan, of course. She touched Genie's forearm as he moved toward Aladdin, signaling that she knew what needed to be done.

"Off you go, men, on the double!" she barked, transforming into a battle-hardened soldier. "We ladies'll hold down the fort here! Hup two!"

Despite the hidden solemnity in his eyes, Genie responded accordingly, giving her a crisp salute. "Yes sir—er, ma'am! Let's roll out, boys!"

They were gone in a second, leaving behind a glittering trail of magic. Her army uniform vanished and she immediately went to the unconscious sultan's side with Dhandi in tow. There wasn't a place for humor now.

Kneeling down, she looked into the princess' fearful eyes and spoke in a soft tone. "Don't worry, your father will be alright. I won't let this spell break. And we can count on our guys to fix up this situation in no time."

"Yeah, Aladdin and Genie always save the day!" Dhandi chimed. She settled down next to Eden and gave Jasmine an encouraging smile. Eden felt a burst of pride at Dhandi's show of compassion despite the fear she had to be feeling in such a situation. The girl shouldn't have had to see all of this, but Eden felt much safer with her at her side than at home alone, especially with an unidentified assassin on the loose.

"Thanks," Jasmine said, her voice drained of strength. She didn't look at Eden, staring at her father with an air of helplessness.

Behind them, the head guard coughed to get her attention. "Princess Jasmine, my men stand ready and awaiting your orders."

Jasmine seemed to recover from her trance momentarily, snapping out a list of orders as if she had them memorized.

"Have them search the palace grounds for intruders. If it was a human assassin, they could still be in hiding somewhere nearby, waiting to escape at the first chance they get. Also, dispatch some men to block off all the kitchens; don't let any of the cooks or servants there out of sight, but make sure no one is harmed. We just have to cover all our bases in case there are agents or hired hands working among them. Station a few guards outside this door, but most of your men should be scouring the palace and looking for the perpetrator. And find out where this wine came from."

"Understood, your Highness," the guard said, and left immediately to carry out her commands. Eden was impressed, but no less worried.

Jasmine turned back to her father and tentatively placed a hand on his forehead. Eden reached forward as well, drawing on her power to add another layer to Genie's spell. A green glow suffused with the blue, and Jasmine looked up questioningly.

"Just reinforcing Genie's spell," Eden explained. "Your old man's tough, don't worry. And so's our magic. It'll keep him suspended in this state indefinitely."

The doubt didn't leave her eyes. "Will the Tree of Renewal really cure him though? Or the Elixir of Life?"

Eden was a little ashamed that her magical knowledge was rusty. She would have to add a few magic almanacs to the parenting books she was planning to get on her next library trip.

"They're called the Tree of Renewal and the Elixir of Life for a reason, honey," she said, trying to sound certain. "At least one of them should do the trick."

Jasmine's lip trembled slightly, and for a moment it looked like she might break down. She sat down heavily and covered her face with her hands. "I wish I could do something. But I'm just sitting here helpless!"

"That's not true!" Eden said. "You've got some major responsibility on your shoulders, missy. Namely your father's authority over the kingdom!"

Jasmine did not raise her head, merely drawing up her legs and resting her face against her knees. Eden hated to see her like this. No one deserved to see their parent on the brink of death, not knowing if they could be saved. Dhandi had been in Jasmine's position once, a year before Eden had turned up in her life. It had taken the girl a long time to open up and talk to her about that fateful night when her mother had passed away in front of her eyes and left her parentless and homeless. Eden blinked away the wetness in her eyes and let her thoughts turn elsewhere, somewhere she could be useful. Who was black-hearted enough to try to kill the sultan? And with dark magic, no less?

"I'm willing to bet one of our old pals is behind this," she said. She latched onto the one enemy she knew who had harmed her friends with dark magic before. "Maybe that Mozenrath fellow, the little punk who drained me and Genie of our power!"

Jasmine still didn't move. "Maybe," she said without conviction.

"Or maybe it's someone we haven't faced yet. It seems every evil soul that roams the Seven Deserts eventually tries its hand at taking over Agrabah. Maybe we should be flattered?" Eden said with a rare dose of sarcasm.

When Jasmine stayed silent once again, Eden suddenly made the connection. A tentative connection that sent her mind racing and a heavy shot of guilt into her bloodstream.

She was almost afraid to ask. "Could this have to do with…" She glanced at Dhandi, but decided the child's presence was no reason to hold back such a crucial question. "…the last time we met?"

Jasmine reacted quickly this time, shaking her head.

"No, that has nothing to do with this," she answered. "Trust me."

Eden frowned. The princess was a poor liar. "And you still won't tell me what you did there?"

"Sorry, Eden," Jasmine said simply, all but affirming her suspicions. "I can't."

She rose, clearly putting an end to the conversation before Eden could protest. Taking a few slow breaths, she seemed to draw up an invisible wall between herself and all the terror and uncertainty surrounding them, as if gathering her strength and mental poise before going out to face their unseen enemy. But Eden knew the princess' duty was to her people first. She had to stand in for her father at this pivotal moment because no one else could. Exhaling calmly, Jasmine turned toward the door, and Eden had to cheer her on despite her doubts.

"Go get 'em, girl! Make momma proud!" A transformation followed, one she'd always wanted to try but hadn't gotten a chance to because Dhandi was allergic to powder makeup.

Dhandi added her own encouragement, and Jasmine smiled back at them both, showing a hint of amusement at Eden's overweight housewife impression. Then she continued on her way without another word, moving with purpose and urgency. A few palace physicians had the misfortune of crossing her path, and Eden had to hide a laugh as the group of old men cringed under the intensity of their princess' glare. She fired off another salvo of orders and brushed past them without a second glance.

"She's really something," Eden mused as Jasmine vanished into the hall.

Dhandi nodded in admiration. "I wanna be just like her when I grow up!"

Eden mussed her hair. "That's certainly a high bar to set, but I know you can do it! Now, what do you say we get to work and help the princess?"

"Yeah!" the girl exclaimed. "What should we do?"

One of the old physicians answered her question. "We need to move the sultan to the infirmary," he said, wringing his wiry hands in apprehension. All of them were apparently greatly unnerved by the sight of a green female jinni.

Eden chose to act normally for once so none of them had to join the sultan in the sick room. "Tell me where it is and we're there."

...

Even from this distance he could see that something was off. The feeling of wrongness only grew as he flew at breakneck speed through the lush valley, shielding his eyes from the glare of the setting sun. He stared straight ahead at the vast tree in the center of the plain, its wide shadow stretched like a canopy over the grass. There was still enough light to see the problem.

There was no fruit on the tree.

"Around," he said curtly, and Carpet swerved without curbing his speed, flying a tight circle under the inner branches. He scanned the mass of leaves and rough bark above his head and saw no trace of the plump pink fruit, not even premature buds.

"Gardener should have used pesticide?" Genie offered unhelpfully, coming to float alongside him when he stopped the carpet.

"Does the tree change with the seasons or something?" he asked, not moving his gaze.

"Nope."

"Then why isn't there anything on it?"

"Hmm…my guess is organic magic as potent as the Fruit of Renewal takes a while to grow back after it's harvested."

"But last time it restored itself almost instantly after Mirage destroyed it," Aladdin said, frowning.

"But she destroyed the tree, she didn't take the fruit. Might make all the difference," Genie pointed out, and Iago cut him off before he could launch into one of his scholarly lectures.

"So basically this means someone was here before us, and they took it all," the bird concluded. "Hm. Sounds like something I'd do."

Aladdin glanced around them, suddenly wary. Was it just a coincidence? Or was it a trap? The idyllic meadow was still, the sun continuing its slow crawl into the horizon. Nothing stirred except a slight breeze of cool dusk air.

"Whoever it was needs to learn how to share," Genie said, pouting at Iago. "Never made it through kindergarten, did you?"

"We still have the other option. Let's go," Aladdin said quickly. Coincidence or not, they had no time to waste. At the moment he had no way to tell if it was all a trap, but they'd surely find out once they reached the Elixir of Life. "Let Jasmine know what's going on."

"Right-o!" A small contraption appeared in Genie's hand, something he referred to as either a 'phone' or an 'eye-phone'; Aladdin couldn't tell the difference. With his other hand he conjured a swirling portal and swept Iago and Abu into it carelessly, ignoring their indignant protests. Aladdin flew in on his own, and Genie followed, closing it behind them.

"Quick update, Jazzy. A bit of bad news. The fruit's all gone and we don't know why."

They landed in a chamber full of sand, the interior of an ancient temple. The loud echoes of Genie's voice against the walls and ceiling only brought out the hollowness of this place. It was a far cry from the fertile meadow they had just left.

"The Tree is empty, Jas. No fruit on it at all," he repeated, as if she hadn't understood the first time. "Can't tell how long it's been this way, either. We're going to get the Elixir of Life instead. We're going there as fast as we can!"

The device vanished from his hand. "Report completed. Now, forward!"

Aladdin looked around at the high stone walls and the multiple doorways on each side, all leading to similar rooms, vast and completely empty. The place already made him tense with its ominous silence. It was the type of stillness that was filled with an invisible consciousness, as if something dark and lethal lay waiting and watching their every step. There was indeed something waiting, as they all knew from experience, in the innermost chamber.

He didn't need to tell Carpet to move fast. They passed through countless identical rooms, heading toward the patch of sunlight just barely visible through the array of open doorways in front of them. He felt Abu's tiny paws cling more tightly to him in apprehension. The monsters that guarded the Elixir were no easy obstacle. He'd succeeded in getting past them last time largely because of Mozenrath's power.

"Should I ask if you have a plan?" Iago said, breaking the unnatural quiet. "Or am I better off not knowing?"

"Genie, give me a flask," Aladdin said. His friend obliged quickly and he tucked the small container into his vest. "We'll get in and get out fast. The monsters won't have time to react. And they won't bother us if we just leave the cup on the pedestal."

"Here's hopin' those overgrown worms don't remember our faces. Might not be so lenient the second time," Iago gulped.

Aladdin ignored the parrot's usual pessimism as they entered the final chamber. The ceiling arched high above their heads, and sunlight filtered in through a large hole at the highest point, illuminating the tiny golden chalice on a raised column.

"Okay. Genie, get ready to distract the worms when they come out. Abu, Iago, you guys can stay back."

He flew toward the column, not looking down at the innocuous plain of sand surrounding him on all sides. Somewhere underneath the surface, four sharp-toothed beasts lay dormant, waiting. He shut his eyes briefly and calmed himself. Taking the flask from his vest, he removed the stopper with sweating fingers. Timing would be everything.

"Ready when you are, Al!" Genie said cheerily. He drew out two huge projectile weapons and aimed them at the ground. "Let 'em at me!"

The chalice was a few feet away. "Go, Carpet!"

In a concentrated burst of speed, Carpet cleared the top of the column, and Aladdin snatched the cup in his right hand, tilting it quickly but carefully over the opening of the flask.

A low rumble began deep underground, shaking the walls and the very air around them. Aladdin all but ignored it, simply staring at the cup in his hands.

It was empty.

"Genie!"

"I'm ready, Al! This jinni ain't scared'a no overgrown fish bait!"

"No, the Elixir's gone." His hand tightened on the chalice, and he flew back to the column, setting it down on the rock. The quaking only intensified, and he finally looked down at the roiling sand, anticipating the confrontation.

"Don't move yet, Carpet," he ordered, drawing the sword from his belt. "I'll help Genie."

It was all he could do to stop the pervading sense of helplessness from dragging him down further. Their two options for saving the sultan were gone. Genie didn't know of any other ways to cure him. What else could they do?

It had to be a trap, he realized, tensing as large swells began to form in the sand. The worms shouldn't be attacking now that he had placed the chalice back on the pedestal. And the precious liquid inside it was gone, anyway. There was nothing left for the monsters to safeguard.

But he was ready. He was ready for whatever invisible enemy had chosen to lead them on this tortuous, dead-end chase. He was sick of being toyed with. Shifting his grip on the sword, he directed Carpet downward for a point-blank strike at the first beast.

He stopped in mid-flight at the sight of what emerged from the sand.

Skeletons. The massive skeletons of the guardian worms, rotting flesh still clinging to some of the bones. A foul stench immediately filled the chamber, making him gag.

"Holy mother of Thundra!" Iago squawked. He and Abu edged up against the wall, trying to put as much distance between them and the carcasses as possible.

Genie's weapons disappeared as he pinched his nose fastidiously. "Looks like the fish bait expired. Whew, that reeks!"

Aladdin forced his eyes away from the appalling sight beneath them. "This isn't supposed to be happening."

"What, you wanted a fight with these things?" Iago said incredulously. "Gross as this is, I'd prefer them in their current state to alive and snapping!"

"The Elixir's gone," he repeated, flying down toward them. "Not a drop left. Genie."

His friend took the cue, but was at a loss for an explanation. "I don't know, Al. It's supposed to refill itself as long as it's left in the proper place. Maybe it'll take a while, just like the tree?"

"That's not good enough," Aladdin said, grip tightening on his sword. He sheathed it with vicious efficiency. "How are we going to save the sultan now?"

He had to fight to keep his temper in check as all of his friends were silent, unable to offer any help. They were at a dead end.

"Someone planned for this to happen," he said quietly. "They knew we'd try these two routes."

"I don't know about that," Genie said dubiously. "The worms look like they've been dead for a while. Whoever killed them is long gone."

Aladdin didn't respond, merely stepping off Carpet to pace back and forth restlessly, struggling to think. "What can we do now? We can't go back to Agrabah without a cure. There has to be something else."

Seconds ticked by, the thick odor of death still threatening to suffocate them.

"Tell Jasmine and Eden," he said resignedly, "and ask them for ideas."

The somber mood preempted any superfluous magical antics. Genie merely concentrated, furrowing his brow. Aladdin could hear his voice echoing in his own head.

_The Elixir's gone too, Jas! The cup's empty, and the guardian worms are dead!_

There was a weak mumble in response; they had caught her while she was sleeping.

_Jas? Jas, can you hear me? Did you just say something? _Genie said.

She was silent. Aladdin frowned, wondering if she had fallen back asleep. Why was she even resting at a time like this?

"Jasmine?" he ventured, and a nod from Genie told him his voice could be heard through the mental connection. "Jasmine, I'm sorry, but we couldn't get the fruit or the potion. Something weird is going on, I think this might have been a setup. We'll find a way, though, don't worry. How's your father doing?"

Continued silence.

"Jasmine?"

Genie shrugged at Aladdin's questioning look. "Uh, I guess she's tired?"

_GENIE! _

The booming interruption of another female voice nearly knocked them off their feet. Aladdin steadied himself and replied quickly.

"What is it, Eden?"

_The sultan's okay! He's been cured, he's alright now!_

"Hooray!" Genie pumped a fist in the air, accidentally shooting a blast of magic into the ceiling. Abu quickly scampered out of the way of the falling debris.

"You cured him?" Aladdin said in relief, taking a seat on Carpet.

_Um…no, actually. I don't know how it happened. But the sultan's perfectly fine now, not a trace of poison in his system!_

Aladdin's smile faltered slightly. "That's strange…well, as long as he's alright now. Maybe it was a temporary poison or something?"

_Just __haul your butts back here and we'll talk about it then!_

"Right," he said, a full grin spreading on his face. The connection faded and Genie readied another instant transportation spell. "Looks like we got lucky somehow."

They were whisked back to the palace in a heartbeat, and Aladdin felt the tension within him dissipate at the sight of the sultan sitting up in bed, looking a little disoriented but otherwise completely healthy. Eden and the palace physicians were tending to him, bringing him water and a cool towel for his face.

"Thanon and Waqar are dead," the old man said sadly, waving off their assistance as he stepped down from the bed. "How can this be…"

The sultan noticed Aladdin's arrival at last. "So you've returned, my boy. Do you know who is behind this despicable crime?"

He shook his head. "No. But I'll find out for sure. For now it's just a relief to see you're well, Sultan."

The sultan did not smile, his expression grave. "Two valuable councilors died by this assassin's hand. This is worse than what our enemies have done in the past, Aladdin. Though they threatened our lives many times, they did not kill those close to us."

"I know," Aladdin said. He turned to his friends; they had already gathered around him, waiting expectantly.

"Now that the sultan's safe, we need to find who did this. Bring him out of the shadows." A rudimentary plan materialized as he spoke. "Genie, inspect the wine bottle the poison came from. Figure out who made it and how it could have gotten in the palace. Iago and Abu, stay with him in case you need to look up something in Jafar's lab. Eden, I think you should guard the sultan. We don't know if the assassin has plans to finish the job somehow."

He paused. "Where's Jasmine?" Her absence was a sudden glaring hole in the room.

"She's resting. After you guys left, she got Razoul to put the palace on lockdown, and met with the rest of the councilors to keep order. But I've never seen her that tired and stressed. She should be in her room now," Eden said, sounding worried.

"I'll go find her, then," he said. "You guys get started here. I'll be back."

Instead of taking the winding route through the halls, he flew outside and around the wide spires of the palace towers, heading for her balcony. The doors were open, the wind swirling the curtains about the entrance. He ran straight inside.

"Jasmine, your father's alright—"

He skidded to a stop and found himself alone inside the dark, empty room. Her absence was now more than just a glaring hole. The feeling of wrongness returned full force as he strode toward her bed, noting the freshly rumpled blankets. The sheets were still warm to the touch. He had just missed her.

Where was she?

His heart beginning to pound, he whirled toward her dresser, barely able to make out the outline of several thick books and scattered parchment. He picked them up and peered at their covers in the semi-darkness, wishing Genie were here to provide some light. A moment later, Carpet offered him a lit oil lamp.

The splash of black ink on the dresser caught his attention immediately. The ink bottle lay on its side, its contents soaking through a thick sheaf of parchment. He gingerly picked up the stack, careful not to tear any of the pages as he peeled them apart. The ink was already half-dried.

_Princess Jasmine. Daughter of Hamed, twenty-seventh Sultan from the founding of Agrabah. Daughter of Princess Asima of Ulaidar._

"What?" he whispered.

The entire page was information about herself. Her lineage and her childhood, and all the people she knew.

He leafed through the parchment quickly, mind racing to figure out why she had written all of this, when he caught a glimpse of his own name. He stood there in frozen disbelief as he read the page.

_Aladdin._

_My fiancé. Chosen by my father to be his successor._

_A commoner; born on the streets; orphaned at a young age._

_Met him when I was almost sixteen. I ran away from the palace and wandered into the marketplace, accidentally stole fruit for a hungry child. He stepped in to stop the vendor from cutting off my hand._

There was no humor in the familiar old story now. He looked with alarm down the rest of the page, where the story of their lives together was summarized in concise, matter-of-fact language, with simple descriptions of his traits as she perceived them. _Kind. Humorous. Rash at times. Quick on his feet. Loyal._

The words ended at the wide blot of the ink spill.

"What were you thinking?" he said softly, placing the parchment back on the dresser. "Why did you do this?"

He thought back suddenly to the crumpled note he had found here several nights before. _The Rose. Forget who we are, then take over. _

The threat now seemed frighteningly real. Had she been afraid to forget herself? Had she suspected someone would use the Rose on her again?

Or had she just been paranoid enough to write down everything about her life as insurance against the vague possibility of a threat, just as she had launched a massive construction project to protect the people against some unforeseen disaster?

"Jasmine," he said, hands tightening into fists. He whirled again toward the empty bed, holding the lamp high. Carpet was circling frantically, searching the room in vain.

"She's not here," he said, voice hardening. "She's not here. Where is she?"

...

_A/N: It would be helpful to have some feedback on the following points:_

_1. Jasmine's characterization so far. Since many of the narrators' interactions with her are directly taken from Antiphony, I'm afraid those parts are stilted, and Jasmine doesn't appear consistent._

_2. Are the various characters' reactions to Jasmine's strange behavior realistic? (i.e. Aladdin, Eden, Carpet)_

_Thanks!_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

He sat on the edge of Jasmine's bed with his head lowered, eyes shut tightly at what he was hearing. His fingers tightened in his hair.

"So you're saying you just let her go, no questions asked. Didn't even check on her once after she entered the most dangerous city of the Fifth Desert in the middle of the night and _stayed there alone for several hours._"

His head snapped up at Eden's repeated apology.

"It doesn't matter if you're sorry!" he said, face flushing in anger. "Jasmine isn't here to hear it!"

He felt no remorse at the sight of Eden cringing away, shrinking into herself in guilt. He couldn't believe she had been that irresponsible, that clueless, to allow Jasmine to walk into such a dangerous area on her own.

"So you have no idea why she went there, or what she was looking for."

"No," Eden said quietly. "She wouldn't tell me."

"And you didn't care to find out," he surmised. He turned toward Genie, who was concentrating on locating Jasmine. Genie looked back at him with a deep frown.

"Still nothing?" he pressed.

"Can't find her," he said. "Sorry, Al."

"Stop apologizing to me. It's Jasmine we all need to apologize to. We have no idea where she is or who could have taken her, or what the hell is happening to her right now!"

He finally turned to Carpet, who had been trying to get his attention for a while with hesitant gestures. "What?" he snapped.

He watched impatiently as Carpet tried to communicate. He understood that it had to do with Jasmine, the fact that Carpet had taken her somewhere. His disbelief grew as he realized she had kept yet another secret, something that she had shared with one of their friends instead of with him. It had to have been yesterday, when she'd wanted to go flying alone.

"Where'd you take her?" he demanded, standing up. Carpet flew toward Rajah, pointing at the tiger's mouth.

He froze for a second, eyes wide. "The Cave of Wonders? But how?"

He half-expected Carpet's story to end there just as Eden's had, but his friend went on, flying in circles around their heads. So they had gone through the Cave, searching for something.

Carpet flew by her dresser and picked up a small mirror in one tassel, pointing to it with the other.

"She was after a mirror."

Carpet nodded vigorously.

"How did you even get inside the Cave? She isn't a Diamond in the Rough. Is she?" He looked to Genie for clarification.

"The Diamond in the Rough is the only person allowed to go in for my lamp," Genie explained. "But other people are allowed to go in for other things. The Cave has fancy names for them too, like—"

Aladdin accepted that and moved on. "So she went in to find a mirror. What kind of mirror?"

Carpet was momentarily at a loss, but quickly flew to Genie and made a series of wild gesticulations.

"Erised? Nope…Evira? Fevire? Hm. Fiereve?"

"Fiereve?" Iago echoed, speaking up for the first time. He and Abu had both wisely kept quiet since they had all gathered here in Jasmine's room.

"Fiereve," Genie confirmed. He scratched his head. "Now where have I heard that before?"

"The Mirror of Fiereve, I'm sure I've seen it mentioned somewhere in the lab," Iago said, flapping toward the door. "Come on monkey, let's voluntarily make ourselves useful for once."

Aladdin let them go, now fixing his glare on Carpet. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Let me guess, she made you keep it a secret."

Carpet nodded guiltily, tassels drooping. Aladdin's accusing gaze swept over Carpet and Eden, coming to rest on Genie.

"Anything else I need to know? Did she go to you too?"

"No," Genie answered, then hesitated. "Al…I think you're being a bit harsh."

"Harsh?" He gave a curt, brittle laugh. "You don't think it's harsh that Eden and Carpet both endangered her safety without caring what she was up to or bothering to tell me?"

"She made them promise, Al. She trusted them. It's not easy to break someone's trust like that."

"No. Do _not _use the whole 'trust' thing against me," he said, narrowing his eyes. "This isn't the same and you know it."

"I'm just saying—"

"Saying what, exactly? Because all I've been hearing is that Jasmine doesn't trust _me_. She sure didn't trust me enough to let me in on what you guys knew," he said, tone almost venomous.

"Don't think that, Aladdin. I'm sure she had her reasons. Maybe she just wanted to keep you safe," Eden said gently.

"She couldn't even keep herself safe!" His voice rose as he rounded on her. "Now you try figuring out how to find her and bring her back. Tell me where she is, and who took her."

"Al, cut it out. Yelling at Eden isn't going to do anything," Genie said, coming to stand beside the distraught female jinni. He tried to put an arm around her, but she shook it off, still unable to meet Aladdin's eyes.

"Yeah, I guess it's too much to expect you guys to do anything, huh," Aladdin said before he could stop himself. "Couldn't cure the sultan, can't locate Jasmine, can't figure out who did this. Some phenomenal cosmic powers."

He finally reached the end of his anger at the sight of his friends' hurt reactions. Genie simply shook his head, stepping back from him and pulling Eden along.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I'm just—" Aladdin let out an exasperated sigh. "I can't think straight right now. I'm scared to death of what happened to Jasmine, and at the core of it, it's my fault."

"It's no one's fault—"

"She was acting strange for two weeks. She was bothered by something but I didn't try to find out what it was." He didn't have to mention the fact that Genie had advised him not to pry; his friend already looked guilty enough. "She was ordering all this stuff to be done for the kingdom, and she was paranoid and always tired. As if this thing just couldn't leave her alone even in her sleep."

He took a breath and collected his thoughts. "Okay. No more casting blame on anyone. If we want to find her, we have to find out two things. What was she so afraid of these past two weeks? And who could have kidnapped her?"

"Iago and Abu are checking into the Mirror of Fiereve," Eden spoke up. "That'll be the starting point."

"The sultan was poisoned with dark magic, probably as a distraction," Aladdin said, repeating what they had gone over earlier. "Whoever did this knows dark magic."

"Narrows the list down a bit," Genie said. "She went to Seripensia. I can go search that city."

"No, I'll go," Eden said firmly. "Aladdin, you should come with me."

"No. There's somewhere else I need to go," he said, suddenly remembering. "Desrial."

"Desra-what?" Genie said.

"The kingdom. Desrial. Jasmine went there a few days ago and ran into trouble with the sultan," he said, not elaborating. His heart was suddenly a leaden weight in his chest. "I'm going there right now. Eden, head for Seripensia. Genie, stay here and watch the sultan; tell me if Iago and Abu find something. If she's not found by the time I come back, we're going to start paying visits to some old friends."

He jumped onto Carpet and sped out of the palace without looking back, the cold night wind whipping his face relentlessly as he headed for the desert.

...

She raced through the foreign city in every direction at once, having split herself into several dozen copies. She lost only a bit of speed with the distribution of her power, but it took no effort to keep herself going. Not when so much was at stake.

Within hours she had mapped the entire city inside and out, having scoured every street and alley, every corner of every rundown building. There was no trace of Jasmine. Panic coursed anew through her magic-filled veins, and if she'd had a human heart she was sure it would have burst by now.

_Eden, this is all your fault! You let her come here alone. You threw her into danger and then just forgot about it! How could you?_

_Shut up already! Just keep looking and stop wasting time panicking!_

_But you're going to panic no matter how fast you move, because she isn't in this city and you know it. You're going to have to go back to Agrabah empty-handed and face Aladdin and the sultan—_

_The sultan doesn't know what I did!_

_He will soon enough!_

"STOP IT!" she finally screamed, startling several rats in the dark alley where she had come to a stop. In a second all her body doubles around the city dissipated as her concentration broke. She bit her lip and pulled at her hair until it tore in her grip, then forcibly grew it back and did it again. She had never wanted to feel this way again. Ever. But it seemed every few centuries she was bound to have a complete and utter breakdown on behalf of a human. This time she was the one who had failed and betrayed and left people hurting. It was worse than being the victim, because it was in extreme circumstances like these that she saw herself most clearly.

At the core of her being, she was crafted to serve and please and fulfill the wishes of man, no matter how petty or pointless or greedy or naïve they were. Failure to do so was a direct violation of her nature. Though her wish-granting days were over, the bonds of friendship and commitments she'd made to people she cared about were as genuine as explicit wishes, and ran much, much deeper. Within the span of two days, she'd put a friend in danger and broken another's trust to a disastrous end, and her anguish was almost unbearable.

"Eden, get a hold of yourself, come on, this isn't the time for this. What would you do if Dhandi saw you now?" she babbled, finally letting go of her hair. It grew to its full length again and she looked up hopelessly at the cold, dark sky.

"Dhandi will never see you like this," she whispered fiercely. "Never. You will not allow it."

"Dhandi is safe. Dhandi looks up to you. You haven't screwed up there yet. And you won't. You will never make a mistake like this again."

"Now think, think hard about where Jasmine could be. Keep thinking. Don't stop. You are not going back to Agrabah until you find her."

She took a deep breath and prepared to zoom up over the rooftops, but the moment she let it out she simply sank to her knees amid the filth and waste of the narrow alley. She knew she was failing again, that every moment spent here flooding the dirt was precious time wasted. But for all the immeasurable power in her jinni's soul, she could not bring herself to move.

...

"Mirror of Perseus, Mirror of Constance, Mirror of Narcissus…Mirror on the Wall? There's an inventive name if I ever saw one! Hmmmmm…no Fiereve. Sheesh, Jafar, why didn't you alphabetize these things!" Iago complained, tossing away yet another useless compendium. "Monkey, any luck over there?"

_Nope! _Abu chattered, half-buried amid curling scrolls and parchment. Iago rolled his eyes, wondering if his companion could even read in the first place. In any case, he appreciated having someone nearby to boss around.

"Hey, go fetch me that book up there, that green one up on the shelf. Thanks," he snapped, and went back to the pile of scrolls Abu had already tossed at his feet.

Iago wasn't a very sympathetic bird. He'd always looked after himself first and foremost, and he didn't see too much of a problem with that. He rather liked being selfish and greedy as long as it didn't get him in trouble. Since he'd started flying with Al's circle, though, he had been forced to change, as inconvenient and life-threatening as it often was considering the street rat's tendency to risk all their lives for anyone and everyone suffering from the slightest injustice. Change wasn't easy. He'd started off changing at the most superficial of levels, merely pretending to care or worry when in reality he didn't give a rat's behind or worse—actually found amusement in someone else's sorry predicament. It wasn't too hard to pretend. Plus, his friends' expectations for him were extremely low to begin with, so half the time he didn't even have to try to make it convincing. Added to that, the extremely high frequency with which Al and his friends tended to get themselves captured and held hostage, played as pawns in some larger power struggle that had absolutely nothing to do with them, and nearly trampled/drowned/shot/skewered/blasted/crushed/burned to death basically devalued sympathy and worry to the price of penny stocks.

Today, however, was different. While Iago wasn't nearly as hung up over the princess' disappearance as everyone else was, he did feel genuine concern weeding its way through his stingy little heart. This wasn't like all the other life-threatening situations the princess often ended up in. According to Al, there had actually been a long lead-up to this one, with plenty of warning signs and uncharacteristic behavior on Jasmine's part. Too bad none of them had been nosy enough to puzzle it all out before it was too late.

If only Jasmine had come to him with her secrets instead of to the rug or Genie's lady friend, they wouldn't be stuck in this mess. He'd have blabbed it all out without thinking and she'd be safe and soundly scolded by Al and her dear old father.

He sighed. Poor decisions had been made all around. He supposed the best he could do as a pretend do-gooder wannabe was to turn the lab inside out for a bit of useful information.

"I'm still waiting for that book, monkey," he said testily. Abu shot him a glare but scampered up the shelf nonetheless, heaving the book down at him. He barely dodged it and glared back, gingerly touching the new featherless spot on his tail. "Hey, no dodgeball in the library!"

With an indignant huff he turned over the faded green binding and brushed the ample layer of dust off the cover. In the past he'd always seemed to find whatever he needed in the least likely of places, i.e. archaic crumbly tomes that by all appearances were completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. So he had a good feeling he'd hit the jackpot with this book.

"Hmmm…let's see here…Fiereve, Fiereve, Fiereve, where are you? Why do you have to be so obstinately difficult to find?"

Abu told him to shut up and just read faster.

"At least I _can_ read," Iago muttered under his breath.

They spent another hour searching before a screech from the monkey jolted him off the shelf he'd been perusing.

"What is it?"

_I found it, I found it!_ Abu crowed, holding up an unfurled scroll as if it were a gold ingot he'd just dug out of a brick.

"Give me that," he said, snatching the scroll away. He eyed the monkey dubiously as he looked down at the rigidly shaped alien characters on the page. "And where in this pile of blocks did you find the winning word, Vanna?"

Abu jabbed a finger at the middle of the scroll, chattering wildly. Iago shook his head in pity. "For your information, this is a dead language. So dead that it's almost undead. Now tell me Abu, where did you learn how to read Mamluk?"

The monkey continued his annoying habit of throwing things at him with no small amount of violence. Between shielding himself and ducking, Iago managed to catch one of the thick books and glimpse its title. An ancient Issychian dictionary.

"What are you trying to do, win a spelling bee or something? What are you doing looking at all these dictionaries?" Abu threw a sheaf of parchment at him in response, reaffirming that primates were hopeless no matter where they were on the evolutionary ladder.

He paused suddenly when he looked down at one of the pieces of parchment-turned-projectile.

"This looks like the princess' handwriting," he remarked. "Whaddya know?"

Abu threw up his paws in exasperation.

"Where'd you get this?"

_In her room! You were there!_

Iago ignored his own oversight and tried to figure out what Jasmine had written. It was a page of scribbles, words slanting every which way. It looked like she'd been practicing a foreign language, perhaps translating something.

It suddenly clicked.

"She was using Issychian? And Fiereve originates from that language?"

_Finally, _Abu said with a roll of his eyes, and temporarily ceased hostilities to scurry over and grab the Issychian dictionary. He flipped open to a page where a row of characters matched the ones on Jasmine's parchment.

"That says Fiereve, doesn't it."

The monkey nodded vigorously. Iago tried to hide the fact he was genuinely impressed. It was against his personal code to feed the monkey's ego.

Over the next hour, they managed a rough translation of the few short sentences they found concerning the Mirror of Fiereve from various Issychian documents in the lab.

A mirror of history. Something about exacting a cost and exchanging memories. Something about sand magic.

"Hmm…you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

Abu nodded triumphantly and rushed off to the throne room to find Genie before Iago could continue.

"I was gonna say, how's about a snack break!" he yelled down the hall. "Oh, fine. Guess it couldn't hurt to add a Princess Jasmine wannabe to the hunt after the real one."

...

He should have come here days ago, right after he'd found out what the bastard had done to Jasmine. Or even yesterday when she'd flinched away from him in terror, plagued by memories of a night she would never be able to forget. It all fit together. Jasmine had suddenly started building up the kingdom's defenses, as if she knew of some threat no one else suspected. A week later she'd gone to Desrial supposedly to negotiate for a port. Given everything she'd hidden from him, Aladdin doubted it was the whole truth or even the truth at all. It could be that Desrial was the very threat she sought to guard against, and after Raeven had assaulted her, she'd resorted to more drastic measures to protect herself and the kingdom, with some plan that involved a secret in Seripensia and a magic mirror.

The magnificent walls of the city came into view, their unique stone reflecting the light of the stars. On one side of the city was an expansive harbor, docked with hundreds of vessels from more places than he could name. The palace towered in the distance, its exquisite architecture and sprawling size perhaps the loudest proclamation of Desrial's extravagant wealth and power. Somewhere in that overstuffed mansion of opulence was the man he had come here to meet.

He'd left Agrabah with such single-minded urgency that he hadn't asked Genie to cast an invisibility spell over him. It would be difficult to navigate an unfamiliar palace of that size without being seen. But he trusted himself. He'd gone on enough missions that required stealth and silence to manage just fine.

Taking Carpet to a high altitude, he flew at a safe distance around the perimeter of the palace, carefully studying the mass of towers and gardens below. It wasn't hard to identify the sultan's personal quarters. He directed Carpet toward the most lavish part of the building, taking care to avoid angles where he might be seen by patrolling guards.

He drifted beneath the windows, listening to the low murmur of servants nearby. They were all female. He couldn't make out most of their conversations, but he heard enough to confirm that he was in the right place. Continuing around the vast tower, he systematically checked every window and balcony until he heard a male voice. Pressing his back to the outside wall, he kept the sound of his breathing to a minimum and listened.

"Come off it already, dear. It's been over three days. What happened to our time rule?"

The nonchalant drawl carried the distinct air of snobby refinement Aladdin was used to hearing around the palace. He'd found the sultan.

He was surprised to hear the female voice that answered him.

"Don't get smart with me, Raeven," the water elemental snapped. "You knew I hated that little hussy and you went for her just to spite me."

"You know it meant nothing—"

"No. The brat-nosed harem whores and servant girls mean nothing. The simpering nobles' daughters mean nothing. You can chase their fins around the Seven Deserts all you like and I wouldn't give a damn. But the princess of Agrabah means something. You knew that. You knew not to go there, but you did anyway."

The sultan sighed, and there was the sound of footsteps.

"Don't come near me."

"I'm sorry," he said simply. "Can you forgive me?"

"I always _can_. It doesn't mean I will."

"Will you forgive me?" he stated as if in routine.

"No."

"How can I make it up to you?"

Saleen paused as if to consider, and Aladdin forced himself to keep silent. The intensely private conversation made him sick to the stomach. Jasmine had said that Saleen controlled the water in Desrial, but hadn't mentioned that she and Raeven were lovers. His contempt for the man only grew. Not only had he assaulted Jasmine, but he had done it in order to spite another woman. It didn't matter that Saleen was an enemy and Aladdin couldn't care less about her injured feelings or pride. The fact was Raeven had treated Jasmine as a doll to use as he pleased, a mere pawn in a sordid game.

Saleen finally answered, her voice tinged with its usual sinister petulance. "Bring her to me. She can take your punishment."

Aladdin went rigid, and Carpet tensed beneath his feet, ready to fly up and in through the window on his signal.

"Darling, you're acting like a child. Isn't there a way that doesn't involve drowning someone?"

"Who said I wanted to drown her? I'd never be so uncouth."

Raeven sighed again, sounding more exasperated this time. Aladdin turned one palm down, signaling to Carpet to wait just a little longer.

"No, you'd more likely turn her into a fish or some sea creature instead, which I don't think is much better."

"I've told you how you can make it up to me. Now do it," Saleen said sweetly. "Or does it have to be your kingdom that suffers instead?"

"Saleen," Raeven said, his tone now serious. "Don't do this to me."

"I've been entirely too lenient, and it's gotten to your head. If I don't punish you now, why, you might forget who guarantees your kingdom's prosperity. All that luxury and beauty. And its safety." The last words were edged with pretty malice.

Raeven didn't reply. Aladdin kept his palm down, thinking hard about how he could confront two of his enemies at once. The sultan's room was undoubtedly surrounded by guards, and Saleen posed a formidable threat on her own if there was any water in the vicinity.

"I'll give you a little time to think about it. No need to rush. I'm sure you'll make the right decision," she said easily. "Sleep well tonight, little sultan."

She solved half of Aladdin's dilemma as he heard a splash of water. He stood still for another moment to confirm that she had left.

"Petty bitch," Raeven muttered.

Aladdin turned his hand quickly and Carpet shot up through the window. He caught a brief glimpse of well-groomed dark brown hair and blue silk robes over a lean frame as the sultan whirled around in surprise, automatically opening his mouth to shout for the guards. A split-second later Aladdin tackled him to the floor, knocking the breath clean out of him. Raeven's eyes shot open in pain, soundless coughs wracking his form before Carpet wrapped around his torso and covered his mouth. Standing quickly, Aladdin dragged the disoriented sultan up with him and shoved him against a chair. He fell back into the seat heavily, face reddening as he tried to breathe. Aladdin narrowed his eyes and folded his arms, blocking any possible escape. The embellished doors to his spacious chambers were a far distance away, and by default, so were his guards.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked darkly.

The sultan ceased his struggles and attempted to regain some part of his dignity. He shook his head, glaring at Aladdin with a promise of vengeance and a barely perceptible edge of fear. Aladdin stepped forward menacingly, latching onto that fear as he brought his face level with Raeven's.

"My name is Aladdin," he said, and recognition dawned on the man's face. "We should have met days ago, after you drugged my fiance and beat her when she tried to resist."

The promise of retribution faded from the man's eyes, replaced by a strange level of calm, perhaps preparation for the inevitable. He flinched as Aladdin raised one hand, but it was only a gesture for Carpet to free his mouth.

"You're going to answer a few questions. I wouldn't advise shouting for the guards," he said curtly.

Carpet released his grip carefully, and the man took a wheezing breath, refilling his tortured lungs.

"What did you do to her that night?" The question forced itself out of his throat.

Raeven raised an eyebrow as he coughed a response. "I didn't…not much…"

"What did you slip into her drink?" Aladdin snapped.

"Sejhai...a pleasure herb. Commonly used here."

Aladdin felt sick. "Commonly? What the hell does that mean?"

Raeven had recovered enough to answer him in a normal tone. "I mean that it's common practice to take it with formal meals. It's not what you think."

His hands clenched into fists involuntarily, and he forced himself not to lose his logic. It was an herb. Not magic. Specifically, not dark magic.

"It's exactly what I think," he said dangerously. "You tried to take her against her will, and drugged her to make it easier. And when she tried to escape, you hurt her."

Raeven shook his head then. "No, I didn't touch her after she tried to leave. I would never raise a hand to a woman, I—"

"I saw her wounds with my own eyes. Burn marks. Lacerations. She left Desrial injured and alone!" Aladdin spat.

"I didn't harm her!" Raeven said vehemently, though the fear in his eyes grew. "I swear by the guardian deities I didn't. We've known each other since we were children. I'd never wish her ill."

Aladdin was aware that it wasn't necessary to interrogate him anymore, as he clearly hadn't kidnapped Jasmine. The man wasn't even aware of what had just happened in Agrabah. But Aladdin welcomed the abandonment of purpose for once. This was a score he needed to settle, or he'd be plagued by it for the rest of his life.

"You'd never wish her ill," he repeated, narrowing his eyes. "_You tried to rape her, you sick bastard_."

"Let's just get this over with," Raeven said suddenly, the pleading tone gone. He looked at him with complete seriousness. At Aladdin's show of hesitation, he gave a dry laugh and added, "Just not my face, if you'd be so kind. A sultan has to keep up appearances."

Aladdin hit him hard, his fist making an audible crack against the man's jaw. Raeven swayed and almost fell off the chair, but Carpet held him in place. Aladdin could feel the blood rushing through his arms, tingling in his fingers as he clenched and unclenched his hand. As soon as Raeven managed to raise his head again, Aladdin swung with his other arm. The chair tilted backwards and dumped the sultan unceremoniously on the floor.

"Let him go," Aladdin said simply, and Carpet obeyed. Raeven sat up, gingerly cupping his jaw in one palm, and glared daggers up at him.

"I'll have to come up with an excuse, then. Had an unfortunate accident while taking exercise. It's half the truth."

"You could tell them your little siren of the sea did it when you tried to cut your leash," he said flatly.

Raeven looked shocked for a moment, then laughed loudly, rolling on his side with a wince. "How much of that were you here for? Gods, this is a humiliating night."

"I heard enough," Aladdin said, and dragged Raeven up to face him on his feet. "I don't think I need to tell you what I'll do to you if you even think of going near Jasmine again. Even if it's supposedly to save your precious kingdom from some second rate water elemental."

"I could imagine," Raeven replied, stumbling back from Aladdin's dismissive shove. "But you don't have to worry. My dear second rate water elemental will cool down soon enough. And I've already said I'd never harm Jasmine, as unconvincing as it may seem to you."

That was the last bit of confirmation he needed of Raeven's ignorance of the kidnapping. Aladdin turned abruptly and stepped onto Carpet. He had to leave now before he wasted any more time, though the darkest part of his conscience was far from satisfied. But beating the sultan unconscious wouldn't bring Jasmine back any faster, and would instead bring him even closer to political suicide than what he'd already done.

He was near the window when Raeven spoke again, his voice strangely humble.

"I'm sorry. I know it means nothing. But for whatever it's worth…"

He coughed and broke off for a moment.

"Please tell Jasmine I'm sorry. For whatever it's worth," he repeated.

Aladdin said nothing as he flew out of the sultan's quarters and headed back to Agrabah. It would be near dawn by the time he arrived.

...

_A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing if you have the time._

_1. Are Aladdin's emotions believable? Or are they too extreme?_

_2. What about the decisions he made on where to look and in what order, are they logical? Was there something more obvious he should have thought of first?_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

She arrived home exhausted that night. It hadn't been a very successful day in the marketplace. She'd barely broken even, and staying out later hadn't increased her income by much. It was a bad way to end the week.

Sighing, she lugged her bag through the door and half-heartedly chanted a spell. A hole opened up in the sandy floor and she stepped into it without hesitation. There was a gentle whoosh of air as sand enveloped her body and carried her smoothly down to the Witches' Lair that had been her home for two years.

She didn't bother unpacking her bag, though she knew that leaving all her wares magically compressed in there would make them spoil faster. She was simply too tired.

Her eyes barely stayed open as she applied some homemade cream to her face and cracked lips. It was a bothersome chore every night and every morning to keep up her appearance, as she had never paid much attention to it before. But she had little choice given her new career. No one was going to buy anything from a cosmetics merchant who didn't care for her own skin properly.

As annoying as it was to go through this daily routine, she felt a small twinge of pride each time she looked in the mirror. She'd come up with all of this on her own, started from scratch and built a fairly successful business from the sand up.

The secret was indeed in the sand. While most people thought it could only be harmful for the skin, when manipulated with the right spells it could work miracles for wrinkles, spots, pimples, and just about any other cosmetic problem that ailed the female gender.

While she had a blast experimenting with her magic and whipping up new creams and lotions, there was a real downside to the life she'd chosen. The hours were brutal. To rent a stand in the better part of the marketplace meant having to follow all the merchant board's stringent and often unreasonable rules. As a street rat, she'd had no idea that the merchants she had stolen from every day had to operate in such a straitjacket. Now that she was one of them, she could sympathize. She had to be at her stand by the crack of dawn and keep it open until the guards started on night shift. She was allowed a brief pocket of time in the middle of the day to eat, and her "personal hygiene" breaks were limited to five. But maybe the worst part was having to sweet-talk and grovel to every single customer who passed by, even the ones who treated her like dirt. The premier section of Agrabah's marketplace had to maintain its stellar service image, the rules stipulated. Any merchant who got sloppy was in danger of getting kicked out of the most affluent shopping area in the city.

Of course, she'd had to pull a few strings to gain her current advantageous spot. Being a personal friend of the princess came with a lot of perks, and though she seldom used them, she'd had basically no other choice in this situation. The merchant board would have flatly rejected her application otherwise, as it didn't exactly welcome former street rats and thieves with open arms.

She changed out of the constraining, jewel-encrusted outfit she had to wear for work and gratefully slipped into a loose nightgown. Collapsing into bed, she was sound asleep in seconds.

Some time later, she was rudely awakened by a strong hand gripping her shoulder.

She jolted upright and lashed out on instinct, blasting the stranger backward with a wave of sand. Her eyes snapped open and she flung off her blanket, ready to run or defend herself if needed.

Her vision cleared then and she saw that the intruder was actually a friend.

"Hi Sadira," Genie croaked from the wall. He peeled his flattened body off of it and spat out a mouthful of sand. "Good evening to you too."

"Genie, what are you doing?" she exclaimed, running a hand through her tangled hair. "You scared me!"

She snatched her blanket from the ground and covered herself. There wasn't much to see, but a male barging into her room in the middle of the night, jinni or human, was not a welcome event.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "but we really need your help. Something terrible's happened."

"What?" she asked, still clutching the blanket as she stood from her bed.

"Jasmine's been kidnapped."

The sand was cold under her feet. "Kidnapped? By who?"

Genie looked grim. "We don't know. And that's not all. The sultan was poisoned first with dark magic. While Al and I went off to find a cure, he suddenly recovered on his own. We think it was a distraction so the assassin could take Jasmine."

Sadira felt a mild edge of dread. "Dark magic," she repeated. "Aladdin's got a few enemies who use that, right?"

"But none of them have shown up to claim responsibility or make demands. It's a real head-scratcher."

"Okay, so how can I help?" she said, stumbling toward her dresser and drawing out her usual outfit. She looked at Genie pointedly. "Would you mind?"

"Right," he coughed, and spun his head around 180 degrees while his body stayed still. "Jasmine was up to a lot of strange stuff in the past two weeks that she didn't tell anyone about. For some reason she went into the Cave of Wonders to get a magic mirror, and probably used it before she was kidnapped. It's called the Mirror of Fiereve. Ring any bells?"

She looked up sharply as she was tying her sash. "Fiereve? She's one of the most powerful sand witches who ever lived!"

Genie seemed to forget that she wasn't entirely finished dressing and snapped his head back around, rushed over and crushed her in a hug. She spluttered as he gave her cheek a noisy kiss with huge bloated lips.

"Oh thank Gandalf I came to find you! Iago and Abu have been turning Jafar's lab inside out trying to find something on your great great godmother Fiereve! You've got to come to the palace right now!"

"I will, I will! Just please let me breathe!" she gasped.

He let go of her and bounced back, hardly containing his excitement. "This'll be such a relief for Al, you have no idea! Maybe we'll even be able to find Jasmine within the hour!"

"Hold on," she said, hating to disappoint. "I know about Fiereve, but I've never heard of a mirror named after her. I'll have to look in the sand scrolls for that."

Genie's face fell slightly, but he was still hopeful. "Well, I'll help you carry all the scrolls you need back to the palace. We can look through them together!"

"Let's go upstairs then—"

She yelped as Genie yanked her into a pocket of space he'd just opened in the air. She stumbled through and landed clumsily on the sand in the main chamber of the lair. Genie had already multiplied himself into several hard-hatted workers with dusty boots and plenty of muscle. The group of them surrounded her shelves of scrolls and prepared to lift them all.

"Wait!" she said, but it was too late. Genie's body doubles had heaved the shelves up onto their shoulders, two jinnis apiece. She stepped forward in alarm as the shelves' contents threatened to jostle out of order. "Be careful, those scrolls are ancient!"

"Oh, right," the jinnis chimed as one, and balanced their loads more evenly.

She made an exasperated noise as she pointed at the end shelf. "The only stuff on that one is my cooking recipes. You can leave it here." She didn't add that it also held her diaries.

"The rest…" She paused and thought carefully. "The rest you can bring, just to be safe. Let's go!"

She disappeared with the group of jinnis and found herself in the middle of a dark, ominous room filled with books and scrolls. A large hourglass stood at the top of a winding stair. There were a few tables next to the rounded walls, strewn with parchment and tomes and random articles of sorcery.

"Sadira, sweetheart, glad you could make it," Iago said in a sycophantic voice. "We'd appreciate an enlightening lecture on sand magic and mirrors. But make it pithy, will ya?"

Genie set down the shelves one by one, careful not to shuffle their precious contents. There was barely enough space to fit all of them, and they were now blocking off large portions of the wall.

"As I told Genie, I only know about the witch named Fiereve, not anything about a mirror," she said. Before the parrot and monkey could look too disappointed, she added, "But we have all the sand scrolls here to help us. There should be something about this mirror in at least one of them."

Iago predictably launched into complaining mode. "Oh great, another three hours buried in dusty old parchment. I thought my days of pulling all-nighters ended when I got my parroting degree."

"Well, let's get started," Sadira said, automatically readying a spell before she realized she was missing a vital ingredient. She frowned. "Can someone get me some sand?"

"Sure thing!" Genie snapped his fingers and a transparent barrel with multicolored spigots appeared next to a wall. "Comes in cold, hot, and lukewarm, your choice!"

"Uh, thanks," she said, and flipped the blue spigot. Sand began pouring steadily from the opening, and she directed its flow toward the shelves, splitting it off into multiple streams. They coiled around the scrolls she wanted and carried them down to her with delicate care.

"Hey, that's a handy skill," Iago remarked. "No more throwing books around, hear that, monkey?"

"Now about half of these are in Issychian," she said. "Those happen to be the older ones, where it's more likely we'll find something about Fiereve. But you guys can still look through the newer scrolls just in case."

She pushed a bundle of scrolls in Abu's direction, and he eagerly took them from her, scampering onto another table to start searching. Sadira raised an eyebrow, surprised that the little animal was literate. Then again, people were always surprised that _she _was literate, so she felt a little bad for underestimating Aladdin's monkey.

Speaking of which, she noticed the distinct absence of her former crush and paused in unfurling the first scroll.

"Where's Aladdin?"

There was a potent silence.

"He's out of the kingdom looking for Jasmine," Genie answered soberly. "Been taking it pretty badly."

She met his gaze and wondered if she shouldn't have asked. It was no surprise that Aladdin would be torn up inside with Jasmine missing and all, but the sudden gravity that had fallen upon the room was stifling. She'd never seen all of them look so downcast and miserable before.

"Hope he's okay," she said gently, and started examining the text before her. "Will he be back soon?"

"Don't know," was the sad response. "He'll probably be out for a while."

"Then we should work fast so we can call him back with good news," she said firmly.

The somber mood was replaced by an odd mix of frenetic tension and scholarly silence as she and the two animals set to work while Genie left the room to guard the sultan. She used the sand like third and fourth arms to reach for more scrolls off the shelves, passing some to Abu and Iago when necessary.

When her sleep-deprived eyes ached too much for her to continue, she took a break and sat up on the table. "So could you guys fill me in on the details of what happened tonight? I don't really know anything other than the fact Jasmine was kidnapped, and something about her acting weird recently."

Iago took a break as well while he answered her question, spinning a long tale about the circumstances of Jasmine's disappearance that was probably exaggerated in some places. Sadira frowned at the thought of her friend acting so secretive, especially toward Aladdin. Like her, Jasmine didn't really have any female friends, which presumably meant she only had her fiancé to confide in about things that were bothering her. The fact that she'd hidden so much from him said volumes about the seriousness of her situation and the threat she must have been facing.

It was near dawn when Genie came back and found her slumped half-asleep over a pile of parchment. She hardly had enough energy to lift her head, let alone decipher an archaic language, but she forced herself to stand, pinching her face in an attempt to wake up and resume the search.

"Sorry," she mumbled sleepily, rubbing her dry, heavy eyes. "I was just—"

"Sadira," Aladdin said, alert and on edge. "Have you found anything?"

...

Genie heaved a sigh of a relief and stopped biting his nails as the faraway speck of Carpet quickly grew larger against the pale dawn sky. Having to stay here as the designated sultan-sitter had made him antsy. There simply wasn't anything to do other than lend the poor old man a sympathetic ear and put every bit of food and drink through a stringent poison test before allowing him to eat it. The sultan had gotten rather annoyed at him for that, but Genie didn't leave his side even when he was ordered to. There were some situations where Al's authority took precedence over everyone else's, even the sultan's, and this was one of them.

For the first time in a long time, he was actually afraid of his best friend. Afraid for obvious reasons. The way he'd yelled at Eden had touched a nerve, but barring his natural impulse to defend her, Genie had never seen Al take out his anger on others so viciously. And then the line about the overall uselessness of jinnis was another clip to the heart. Al could be rash and snappish, but he was not cruel. What he said had been cruel.

Genie was also afraid _for_ him. Jasmine had been kidnapped plenty of times before. It should have been a cinch to get her back safe and sound from whatever megalomaniac thief, polygamous ghoul, or misunderstood talking tree had captured her this time. In contrast, the current predicament wasn't simple by any means. None of the clues fit together, and no villain had come forth to claim responsibility and demand the keys to the kingdom. But the part that really made it hell for Al was Jasmine's complicity in the situation. Whatever threat she had sensed was coming, she hadn't told anyone and had made herself increasingly vulnerable with each secret added to the pile. Seripensia. The Cave of Wonders. The Mirror of Fiereve. And, as Al suspected, her visit to Desrial. Genie would soon find out whether his friend had suspected correctly.

"Ahoy!" he called, drawing a telescope out of thin air and holding it to his eye. He scratched his stubbly sailor's chin and squinted. "She's headin' for shore!"

Carpet closed in alarmingly fast and he had to retract the telescope quickly before the rug knocked it into his face. Genie zipped out of the way as Al flew through the window, already on his feet and ready to jump off the carpet. He stumbled unexpectedly and Genie's arm automatically shot out to steady him.

"Whoa there, matey. How was yer voyage?"

Al quickly brushed off his hand and headed down the hall toward Jafar's lab.

"Didn't find anything in Desrial," he said shortly. "How's the sultan?"

"Chipper! Safe and sound asleep," Genie replied with cheer, trying to lighten the mood.

"What about the Mirror?"

"Well, we got some good news! Sadira's helping out!"

Al paused before opening the hidden passageway in the wall. "Okay, but what does she have to do with the Mirror?"

"It's saaand magic."

"So she can tell us what the Mirror's for." His voice was sharp with hope as he turned around halfway up the stairs.

Genie shook his head with a wince. "Ah, not exactly."

"She's up here with Iago and Abu?" Al asked, but soon found out for himself as he pushed open the door.

The lab was even messier now than it had been hours earlier when Sadira had arrived. The three diligent detectives had unfortunately tired themselves out and were snoozing, surrounded by hills of parchment. Sadira stirred as the door swung inward and hit the wall with an echoing bang.

"Sorry," she groaned, raising her head from the table. "I was just—"

"Sadira," Al cut in. "Have you found anything?"

Genie zoomed over to her and put an arm around her shoulders in a chummy gesture. "She's been fabulous! Transferred the rights to the sand witches' ancient scrolls to Jafar's Lab Incorporated. You know, we really should think of a different name for this place, the reputation would really—"

"Genie, please, let her talk," Al said tensely. "Sadira, thanks for coming to help. Now do you know what the Mirror does? And why Jasmine might have gone after it?"

"Um…I have a basic idea of what it does, but it's slow going. There's a lot of material to look through and the Witches of the Sand weren't very good at organizing their—"

"What she means to say is, the Mirror of Fiereve is actually a pretty big deal as far as sand magic goes, and its creator was none other than a sand witch named Fiereve," Iago began from his old perch above their heads. "It's supposed to give you a nice history lesson with visual aids while sucking out your memories. Not a mirror recommended for personal use."

"Wait. Explain that to me again," Al said. "What does any of that mean?"

"Fiereve was one of the most powerful Witches of the Sand who ever lived," Sadira answered. "She made this mirror as a showcase of her mastery of magic and as an affirmation of the sand witches' creed, which says sand is the most basic element of all existence."

"You mean our bodies are actually sixty percent sand?" Genie gasped, and turned into a flat diagram of the human body, colored from the feet to the torso in scratchy brown.

At his friends' unsmiling reactions, Genie shrank back and decided to give up on trying to brighten up the atmosphere. One of his ongoing goals was to learn not to waste time at crucial moments, but it was like trying to keep New Year's diet resolutions.

"All things come from sand, and to sand they return," Sadira recited. "Everything is composed of sand when it comes down to it, and therefore it's everywhere, a sort of witness to history. Fiereve figured out a way to access the 'memories' of the sand, basically the physical records of everything that's ever happened, and crafted a mirror to store them."

Genie was impressed. The Witches of the Sand had a dubious reputation, what with their cruel subjugation of the Seven Deserts and all, but he'd nominate this one for a Nobel Prize without qualms. She was a genius. Probably evil as well, but the two were a common enough combination.

"And it also 'sucks out your memories?'" Al said skeptically, looking up at the parrot.

Iago raised his wings defensively. "Hey, all this stuff is written in a dead language in a bunch of faded scrolls. Pardon me for not paraphrasing artfully enough."

"That's one part we're still trying to figure out," Sadira admitted, sounding apprehensive. She'd obviously caught onto the tense mood Al was in and wasn't sure how to deal with it. "It seems to demand the memories of whoever wants to use it as payment."

"All of the person's memories?" Al questioned, an edge of panic in his voice. "Or just some? What kind?"

"We don't know yet; we have to keep looking." Sadira looked apologetic as Al strode forward and peered down at the table of ancient documents. "We'll stay in here until we find something."

"Alright. But let's piece together what we have. The Mirror's the only real clue that actually fits…" he trailed off, thinking hard, "…with all the writing I found in her room! She wrote down this long list of facts about herself and all of us, and Agrabah's enemies. And for the past two weeks she's been thinking of all these potential plots that enemies could use against us."

"Maybe as a safeguard against memory loss," Sadira said, catching on quickly.

"So that means she used the Mirror already. At some point either before or after the sultan was poisoned…probably after. I mean, the last time we saw her she still remembered all of us. Right?" Al looked around at them for confirmation.

"Well, I guess this could sorta be good news," Iago shrugged. "She _has_ forgotten all of us before, once courtesy of Miss Sandswitch here, and we got her back to normal in the end—courtesy of yours truly, I might add."

Sadira shot him a dirty look but didn't respond to the jab. "If she lost her memories, she could have run away or something. She couldn't have gotten far. She might even still be in the city!"

"Uh," Genie interjected at last, "I don't think so, unless this mirror has shielding properties. Eden and I can't sense her presence anywhere."

"Who's Eden?"

"Oh, you haven't met her! She's only the most beautiful, magical, spectacularly spectacular lady jinni to ever—"

"She's still in Seripensia, isn't she?" Al interrupted.

All the pink hearts fluttering around them quickly dissipated. "Yes," Genie said.

"Check on her, and if she hasn't found anything, tell her to come back. We all need to meet and figure out a new plan."

"Right-o!" Genie replied, eagerly accepting the job.

He vanished in a poof of mist and zapped himself into a tux during the half-second of transit. He kept his eyes closed in a refined manner as he straightened his bow and sprayed some mint freshener into his mouth. But he made the mistake of opening his eyes when he took a polished step forward, stopping midway at the sight of the decrepit city around him.

"And I thought a few millennia would liven up the place," Genie sniffed. The air was wet and foul. "Guess I was wrong!"

He paused as he noticed what was wrong with the picture. The air was not supposed to be wet. This was the middle of the desert.

It was raining.

The tux and bouquet of flowers disappeared as he finally felt the steady fall of rain on his face and shoulders. Down the entire street people had come out of their homes to stare dumbfounded at the sky, holding out their palms as if accepting a divine gift.

"Oh no," he gulped, and pinpointed Eden's location in a flash. She was on a rooftop halfway across the kingdom, and she wasn't moving. He blinked himself out of the street and set a hand on her shoulder once he materialized beside her. She was crouched down on the muddy floor of the roof, her face buried in her hands.

"Eden, what happened?" he said in a hush, all traces of comedy wiped from his system. His proverbial heart sank with dread. "What did you find?"

She didn't answer for a moment, and Genie's alarm shot up to a peak.

"Nothing," she whispered brokenly. "I didn't find anything."

Genie breathed a huge sigh of relief and wiped the rain off his brow. He held up an umbrella over their heads and sat down on the roof next to her. "Eden, it's okay. None of us have found her. Al wants us all back in Agrabah now. We need to talk."

She shook her head vehemently. "No! No, I can't go back! I can't face Aladdin, he hates me—"

"Al doesn't hate you!" Genie insisted, shocked that Eden was this torn up over Al's outburst earlier. "He's just terrified for Jasmine and angry with himself for not preventing what happened. And he took out his anger on you. On both of us."

"It's my fault! It's all my fault I let her come here and didn't ask what she was doing and didn't go after her even though I should have I knew I should have!" Eden shouted and actually ran out of breath. Her magic was spread dangerously thin, cast in a wide radius over the kingdom. It had suffused into the clouds and caused the rain.

"That's not true." Genie kept his voice calm as he stretched his own power throughout the kingdom and the surrounding desert, drawing Eden's magic into an invisible harness before it could drift farther apart. "Eden, it's okay. Al didn't mean it. He said he was sorry."

She didn't respond and ignored the comforting arm around her shoulders. For the first time since their second date, Genie was at a loss with how to deal with her. His mind was whirling, trying to figure out what to say or do to get her to snap out of it. She'd never been like this before, and it scared him as badly as the time he'd come out of his lamp to find Al unconscious and half-drowned on the ocean floor.

"We're closer to finding Jasmine," he chose to say. He knew Eden would pull herself together on behalf of someone else, even if she was still a wreck inside. That was the best they could do for now. "We found out what the Mirror of Fiereve is and we all need to talk about it now so we can go on with the search."

She lifted her head at last and looked at him, tears mixing with the rain. Genie's eyes brightened and took her hand. "Come on, genie woman. Where's that lovely thousand-wish smile?"

Eden turned and straightened up, gathering her power with effort. The rain lightened and finally ceased, leaving the city in eerie silence once more.

"How's Aladdin doing?" she asked quietly.

"He didn't find anything in Desrial. He's back in the lab with everyone else now. They're all waiting for us," Genie said as she withdrew her hand from his grip. "Trust me, he doesn't hate you."

It was a surprise that she could be reduced to this state over disappointing one human. Female jinnis were more susceptible than males to Master Attachment Syndrome, a rather serious condition, but Al wasn't even her master. Genie wished he could help her or at least understand why she was like this, but now wasn't the time. They had to go.

"Well, at least you can feel better about this rancid city. It was long overdue for a bath and you gave it one," Genie quipped.

The corner of her mouth lifted as she stared vacantly over the muddied streets and crowds of people now filtering back into their run-down homes. Then she moved her hand and vanished. Genie took a breath and followed her.

...

The sun had risen and the kingdom was waking up by the time the task force had all arrived. Iago had mulled over some ideas for an appropriate name for their operation while Genie had gone to fetch Eden. Two jinnis, two humans, two animals, and a piece of furniture. Count on the rug to ruin the pattern.

He took a look around at the solemn faces of everyone gathered in the cramped lab. There was hardly enough room for a bird to perch, but he knew to keep his beak shut. With the way Al was going off at anyone who showed the slightest bit of incompetence or delay in answering his incessant questions, it was best to shut up and let someone else take the hit.

As if on cue, Genie and his lady friend materialized at the door, looking outlandishly serious. The latter kept her eyes downcast as she floated to the side of the room farthest from Al and settled beside Sadira quietly. The witch turned a curious gaze toward her and extended her hand.

"You must be Eden. I'm Sadira," she said in her annoyingly cheerful I-need-more-friends voice.

"Hi," Eden said with a weak smile.

Genie was looking pointedly at Al, for once not manifesting his thoughts in solid form. Al seemed to ignore him deliberately and decided to interrupt Sadira's enthusiastic friendship-building instead. Iago settled back to enjoy the tense intrigue for what it was worth. For a group of friends as honest and direct with each other as this, it was rare to see all this unspoken complexity. It was almost like observing palace politics back in the day from his impartial spot on the royal vizier's shoulder, but with admittedly more attractive people.

"Alright, we don't have any time to waste. Jasmine's already been gone a night, and there's no telling what she's going through right now," Al said. The tension in the room only grew with the bluntness of that statement. The kid sure knew how to kill an already dead mood. "Let's go over what we've got and what we need to do.

"Given what we have on the Mirror of Fiereve, I'm thinking one of two things could have happened.

"Jasmine could have used the Mirror to defend the kingdom. Maybe she needed to look into the past to find out how to defeat whatever enemy she was up against. She might've even used it to find out how to cure the sultan while we were gone. But she could have lost her memories in the process and run away from the palace. That's the best-case scenario."

He paused, acknowledging there were plenty of holes in his story, but they didn't have enough info to fill them in.

"The worst-case scenario is the Mirror has a lot more to it that we don't know about yet. It could've done more than take away her memories. It could have made her vanish altogether," he said, obviously avoiding heavier language.

The silence was thick.

"Well? What do you think?" Al said impatiently.

"I think…" Sadira ventured hesitantly, "well, I don't know how likely this is, but what if someone forced Jasmine to get the Mirror for them? What if she didn't go after it by her own choice?"

It was Aladdin's turn to pause. "That's possible. I didn't think of that. And it would explain why the Mirror's missing. But…no, it couldn't be. Remember all the parchment I found in her room? She must have written it because she was afraid to lose her memories. She couldn't have taken the Mirror for someone else."

"She could have tried to use it herself anyway. She wouldn't put up with being used as a puppet if she could avoid it," Sadira pointed out. Iago would have admired her for daring to argue with Al when he was in this mood, but she was really just acting out of ignorance.

"Where does the sultan getting poisoned fit into that?" Al challenged.

Sadira opened her mouth but found she had no answer. Iago suppressed an eye-roll. That was quick.

He supposed it couldn't hurt to stick his neck out since he was the most immune to the kid's temper. They needed his villainous plotting experience, anyway.

"The sultanicide attempt could have been the bad guy sending the princess a warning," he offered. "As a kind of punishment 'cause she wasn't doing what they wanted, i.e. not giving over the Mirror."

"And then they could have taken both her and the Mirror once Al and I left. They were just waiting for the right moment," Genie spoke up. Iago noted the jinni had gone over five minutes without cracking a joke or making him the butt end of one. He was vaguely impressed and immensely grateful.

"Did they really have to wait, though?" Sadira said. "I mean, if they had Jasmine at their mercy the whole time, why didn't they kidnap her earlier? Like right after she went to the Cave of Wonders?"

"It does seem rather clumsy of them, to hide in the dark the whole time and then suddenly send out a really obvious sign by poisoning the sultan." Genie frowned. "Then again, I wouldn't put it past some of the bozos who've tried to take over Agrabah before."

"This doesn't look like a bozo's job to me," Iago said frankly. "As much as I hate to say it, it's on par with what Jafar would do."

The conversation seemed to reach a dead end as they chewed on that salient comparison. Iago reminded himself not to say things he hated to say in the future.

Aladdin set his head in his hands and let out a harsh exhalation.

"When I get my hands on this…whoever did this to her, I swear…I could just…" His hands clenched hard into his hair, and Iago noticed Eden cringe in reaction. Sadira's frown deepened.

"Hey, let's not give up yet. There's still more we can figure out if we just think a little harder. Genie, Eden, you guys can't sense her, right? That means she's being shielded by someone, or she's out of your range."

"Between the two of us, that's a pretty big range," Genie said, one arm encircling Eden's shoulders. "My bet is she's hidden."

"So whoever kidnapped her is skilled enough with magic to keep up a concealment spell around her for a really long time. Or they took her somewhere that's already shielded."

"Uh, I think it's time we return to the one concrete clue we do have. _Dark. Magic_," Iago reminded them. "We only got a few special friends who can wield that nasty stuff."

"Iago's right," Aladdin said curtly, raising his head. He continued before the parrot could ask him to repeat himself because he was certain he hadn't heard correctly. "We've wasted so much time when we should've just stuck to the basics."

It was obvious to Iago that the disgust in the kid's voice was mainly directed at himself, but everyone else looked ashamed or affronted by his words. Iago was plainly indifferent. They all needed to stop taking the hero's Mr. Hyde personality so personally.

"We have to check out Morbia, the Netherworld, and the Land of the Black Sand. Genie, Carpet, you're coming with me," Aladdin said. "Eden, you…" His gaze softened minutely. "Why don't you stay here and watch the palace. Dhandi's still here, I'm sure she wants to see you once she wakes up. Sadira, you and Abu and Iago keep working on the Mirror of Fiereve."

Iago was relieved at his assignment. A day free of close brushes with death (rather literally in this case, given the latter two places the kid was heading). "Well, that all sounds—"

"I can help you guys look for Jasmine," Sadira said. "It isn't efficient for you to visit all those places one after the other. Why don't we split them up?"

Aladdin shook his head firmly. "No, you don't know what you'd be getting into. You don't even know the enemies we're going after. They've always been the toughest for us to beat."

"Listen to the kid on this one," Iago advised. "One's an immortal, the second's dead, and the last has a giant army of the dead. No offense to your sand magic, but I think you'd be in for a nasty surprise."

She frowned and stubbornly stood her ground. "Aladdin, you just said we've been wasting time. If you don't let me help, we'll only be wasting more time!"

"Sadira, I'm glad you want to help. But trust me on this one," he said in a tone that brooked no argument. "You'll be more helpful here, trying to find out what Jasmine was doing with this Mirror. I'll be back within the day, don't worry about me. Genie, Carpet, let's go."

"Go where, my boy?"

They all turned toward the door, where the sultan stood flanked by Razoul and a few additional guards. If that was the sultan's idea of stepped-up security, it was rather pathetic.

"I'm going to track down everyone we know who uses dark magic, your Majesty," Aladdin answered, a bit of respect finally returning to his voice. "One of them must have taken Jasmine."

The sultan nodded and looked around at the ragtag group they'd gathered. "So my daughter is still missing, and the culprit has not yet been identified," he said, his gentle tone weighted down by weariness and concern. "I take it that all of you worked through the night? You should take a rest before leaving, Aladdin."

"I can't," Aladdin said as he stepped onto Carpet. "I'm not resting while Jasmine's still in danger. And I don't think anyone else here will, either. I promise we'll bring her back soon."

"Go, then. Hurry, and be careful," the sultan said.

Aladdin quickly retrieved a magic jewel from behind one wall. The Eye of Gazeem, which was more like a giant eyesore after all the havoc it had caused the last time Iago had seen it. Genie wrapped it in a cloth and the Hero Party disappeared, choosing to find a less populated place to open a gate to the Netherworld.

"So, uh…I guess we'll get started too. Time to hit the old scrolls again," Iago said in the awkward silence.

The sultan looked troubled as he turned to head back down the stairs. "Razoul, assemble the council. I must let them know what transpired last night, before all sorts of wild rumors muddle the people's knowledge of the situation. And we must be on guard against the innumerable other enemies that have long wished this kingdom ill. We cannot grant them an opening in this moment of uncertainty."

The head guard bowed and strode away to carry out his liege's orders. Iago glanced at the sultan's sagging shoulders as he retreated from sight, and couldn't help but feel an uncharacteristic amount of sympathy for the aging ruler. And naturally, for the kid as well.

...

_A/N:_

_1. Did Sadira's POV fit well into the story, or was she out of place?_

_2. Is everyone's train of thought still logical so far or are they missing something obvious?_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The air of the open desert was utterly still. There was no sun in the sky, only a static gray from horizon to horizon. The sands below did not shift, each grain set in a fixed place for eternity. The only sound he could hear in the eerie, all-encompassing silence was his own breathing. Beneath him, he could feel Carpet struggling to maintain speed, staying airborne by his own strength alone without any lift to aid him.

In spite of the urgent need to find Jasmine, he found himself hoping that she wasn't here. The surface of the Netherworld, a graywashed reflection of the world they knew, was a cursed place no living being was meant to enter.

His gaze hardened as the canyon came into view ahead. Genie had set their course for it immediately after they had entered the Netherworld through the Eye of Gazeem. It was the nearest passageway into the next level, a gate supposedly used only by dead souls who were not confined to any particular layer of the afterlife. If Jasmine had been taken by Ayam Aghoul, chances were they had gone this way.

The frozen desert gave way to an outcropping of rocks and giant cliffs that rose abruptly from the ground, towering high above their heads as they took the winding path between them. The passageway soon sloped downward and grew progressively narrower the further they flew. The gray tone of the sky began to darken as well, as if the descent into this place was separating them from even a dim reflection of the natural world. The slope became noticeably steeper, pitching nearly straight downward into unseen depths. Aladdin shifted his weight on the carpet so he would not lose his balance and fall onto the unforgiving rocks below.

The air grew colder, a deep chill that settled beneath the skin. They lost their view of the sky as the gray of the walls above and around them darkened and lost clarity, rock melting into shadow, the black encroaching upon them until their only light was the faint glow of Genie's form.

"This place always gave me the creeps. Makes me real glad we jinnis have taboos about dealing with dead people," Genie broke the silence with a shudder, intensifying his light to illuminate their way.

"If you could resurrect the dead, is this where you'd have to go to do it?" Aladdin said.

"Yep. Well, I think so, at least. Not too good with hypothetical questions that contradict my nature. Kinda like trying to answer the whole 'could God create a rock so heavy even He couldn't lift it' conundrum."

Aladdin said nothing and stared ahead at the sliver of dim white light that had just appeared in the distance.

"Why?" Genie asked.

"Just wondering," he answered shortly. "That must be it ahead."

The arc of white grew steadily wider until he could see it was an opening in the rock face at the end of the path. Pale light filtered from it like moonlight through layers of cobwebs. The surrounding rock was gouged with claw marks and elongated handprints.

Aladdin pulled Carpet back, slowing their approach. He drew his sword, though he knew it would be of little use if something were to attack them here. He would have to rely almost fully on Genie's magic.

As they drew nearer, the light suddenly rippled and flashed bright crimson for a chilling moment, illuminating a steep set of stairs that led down to the next level of the Netherworld. Aladdin stopped the carpet altogether, every muscle in his body tense at the distant chorus of screams that issued forth from deep within the cave. The light returned to its normal white glow briefly before flickering to blood again, accompanied by another scattered wail of agony.

"What is that?" Aladdin said quietly, not daring to speak any louder than a whisper.

"I th-think it's safe to g-guess," Genie said, teeth chattering out of his mouth. "Souls in eternal torment, anyone?"

"Indefinite torment, actually," a low voice sounded around them.

The words stirred the dead air and prickled his skin like spiders' legs. He raised his sword in defense, eyes darting blindly in the dark.

"Show yourself, unholy specter!" Genie said with bravado. He promptly transformed into a human in a jumpsuit holding a suction tube with a container attached. "Who you gonna call, Al?"

Aladdin ignored him and stared ahead at the jagged rock around the glowing entrance. The claw marks and handprints were slowly turning black, as if dark blood were seeping into each desperate indentation. Black mist began to pour forth from the gouges and condensed into a sinuous feline shape. Smoke curled off the edges of its ethereal form as it sauntered forward, two white slits flashing from where its face should have been.

"Few dead souls prefer to enter hell this way," the lynx spoke. Its paws barely touched the ground, seeming to stand on an invisible plane. "And even fewer living souls ever venture here voluntarily."

Genie's contraption fell from his shaking fingers as the shadowy figure approached him, its shape vanishing and reappearing with haphazard grace.

"Another rare sight. A jinni," it commented, then turned its narrow glowing eyes toward Aladdin. "One that is exempt from the third prohibition, perhaps?"

Aladdin did not miss the edge of malice in the deceptively casual question. "No. We're not looking to resurrect anyone," he answered, refusing to think about the implications attached to that possibility. "We're looking for someone living who might have been taken here against her will."

"Ah."

The cat sauntered past, dark wisps from its long tail carelessly brushing his skin. Aladdin kept still, not showing any reaction to the subtle intimidation tactic.

"I just need to know if she's been through here," he said.

Genie's hand was still shaking as he held forth a picture of Jasmine. The cat hardly spared it a glance and turned around, effortlessly leaping onto the wall beside the cave entrance. It climbed up the rock face to settle above the opening, and looked down at them. Though its eyes were the only visible feature on its face, Aladdin had the distinct sense it was grinning.

The light from the cave flashed red once more, heralding another round of deathly screams.

Genie darted behind him in fright and peeked over his shoulder. Aladdin didn't move, merely staring back at the lynx in an attempt to match its calm composure.

"Have you seen her?" he said levelly, and pried the picture from Genie's frozen grip. He willed his own hand to be still as he held it up.

The cat tilted its head curiously, its gaze less menacing than before as it studied Jasmine's portrait.

"Such youthful beauty. Yet another rarity," it remarked, regarding Aladdin with light amusement. "What is your name, mortal?"

He kept his frustration well-hidden as the cat continued to avoid answering his question. "Aladdin."

"Ah," it said again, but this time its tone was laced with self-satisfaction, as if it had just confirmed something it already knew.

"Well whaddya know, Al, you're famous even among the guardian spirits of the underworld!" Genie laughed nervously, patting him on the back.

The cat's eyes narrowed to slits, making Genie shrink back with a yelp.

"Let him consider for himself if that is indeed a good thing," it said, turning its attention back to Aladdin. The latter fought not to look away from the cat's piercing gaze. "Hero status often does more harm than good in these parts, after all."

He took the unexpected news in stride; he supposed it wasn't too surprising that gatekeepers in the Netherworld knew of him, probably from the evil souls they guarded. For an unsettling moment he wondered just how many of dead he heard screaming inside the cavern had ended up there by his hands, directly or indirectly.

"Hear those lovely voices?" the lynx said as the cave's light flickered red. "Indefinite torment, as I said before. Not exactly eternal, but who's counting?"

Genie gulped and stepped backward slightly, signaling that they should leave if they didn't want to join the souls below. Aladdin steeled himself and kept listening. He wouldn't leave unless he knew for sure Jasmine wasn't here.

"But are you even aware of what lies within the first level of the Netherworld, at the end of these stairs? Or what these…embellishments….are?" the cat continued, sweeping a paw over the gouge marks at the cave's entrance.

"I could guess," he replied shortly.

"Few dead souls prefer to enter hell this way," it repeated. Though it had not altered its voice at all, the words sounded much more sinister now. "All the voices you hear screaming in torment are slaves in death. Trapped in a rather unfortunate predicament, chained indefinitely in no-man's land between death and the afterlife.

"And even fewer living souls ever venture here voluntarily," it went on, leaping down from the wall with ethereal grace. "But some do. Namely the mortals who were bold and powerful enough to stake this dimension for their own use many ages ago. And those who have followed in their footsteps, using this realm as a holding cell of sorts for their slaves. The more creative types have found that dead souls are quite an abundant source of power."

"It's a necromancer's realm," Aladdin said in realization.

The cat nodded mockingly at his slowness. "Indeed. Now, unless you are a member of that arcane class, which I doubt you are, I advise you to leave."

He felt sick as he thought of the only necromancer he knew. Mozenrath was certainly ruthless enough to enslave the souls of the dead in order to feed his own power, given the fact he had already enslaved the bodies the souls left behind.

"Then you haven't seen her," he said, still clutching the picture.

The lynx clicked its claws impatiently against the ground. "You living mortals must always have everything spelled out clear as day, don't you? The woman you seek is not here. The last living being who visited this gate was a young man, not too much older than yourself. Perhaps you might ask him for aid, if you are certain this woman is somewhere in the Netherworld."

The suggestion raised his suspicions immediately. "Mozenrath? You know him?"

"There is scarcely a guardian in the Netherworld who does not know of Mozenrath," the lynx said lazily. "Not surprising, as he managed to kill the most powerful dark sorcerer who ever lived and enslave his soul along with the thousands the latter had prepared for his own service. He has made my job a bit…livelier, shall I say."

"Does he come here often?" Aladdin asked, now keenly interested. "Did he ever say anything about the woman I'm looking for?"

The cat shrugged, smoke wafting off its form faster now as it began to sink back into the wall. "He is not the conversationalist that you are. If he ever did mention a woman, it must have slipped my mind. More important matters to ponder, you know. Such as what I should do with you if you choose to dally much longer."

"I'm sorry for the intrusion," he said, signaling for Carpet to back away. "We'll leave."

"Safe wishes on your quest, Aladdin," the lynx said in an unreadable tone, its body dispersing to fill the marks of torment once more. "Give the young necromancer my regards, should you seek him out."

...

It had to be Mozenrath. Aladdin sped out of the palace without delay once they returned to the living world, cutting a straight path for the Land of the Black Sand.

It was just the sorcerer's style to carry out such an underhanded plot. Though he had used more direct means of attack before, he usually preferred surreptitious, targeted strikes that left his hands clean.

He didn't know what Mozenrath could want with Jasmine, but the ideas his exhausted mind was coming up with were not pleasant. She'd thwarted the sorcerer's plans enough times to garner the same depth of hatred he held for Aladdin.

"Hmm…still no answer in Morbia," Genie said, taking the familiar black device away from his ear. "Hello Kitty just ain't picking up."

"Forget it," Aladdin said. "We need to focus on Mozenrath for now."

"Okay. Maybe we should slow down and think of a plan to get past the magic detectors then. We're almost there."

"The plan is to go directly to him. I don't care if he knows we're here."

"Um…that's not exactly the most strategic rescue plan you could come up with."

"It's been a full day since she was taken," he snapped, glaring at his friend. "We don't have any time to waste."

Genie shut his mouth and his frown of worry deepened. They looked ahead at the darkening sands, the setting sun already shrouded in an unhealthy shade on the horizon. The winds were harsher here, whipping his face with unforgiving force. Aladdin actually welcomed the pain, as it fended off the exhaustion that had been threatening to overtake him ever since they had left the Netherworld.

He was prepared for the first attack once they entered the sorcerer's territory. A grating screech tore the air overhead, and Carpet dodged to the side as a pair of sharp talons raked the empty space beside him. He chanced a glance backward and saw the giant hawk spread its wings, circling around to follow him.

"Genie!" The bird was quickly gaining on Carpet, aiming its beak at his back. He barely managed to duck the first strike.

"Don't worry, Al! I've got it!"

The bird screeched again as it abruptly dropped out of pursuit, a coarse rope looped around its neck. Aladdin trusted Genie to take care of it and continued ahead, not looking back.

A second later the hawk appeared in front of him, and he narrowly swung the carpet downward to avoid being sliced in half by its beak. He looked up in consternation, deciding he'd have to help Genie deal with the problem. Drawing his sword, he stood to his feet carefully and flew in a wide arc to survey his options.

He saw then where the challenge was as Genie tried to lasso the hawk again. The rope caught the bird around the neck once more, eliciting an angry screech, but in the next moment the animal's sleek form turned to smoke. Genie scratched his head and tossed away the rope. The bird appeared behind him and struck him hard with one wing.

"Yow!" Genie yelped as he plummeted to the sand below.

"You have to trap it somehow! Something smoke-proof!" he shouted, but his friend was still in a daze with miniature hawks flying circles around his head. Aladdin gritted his teeth as the real predator flapped directly toward him.

"Alright, Carpet, we'll have to distract it until Genie snaps out of it," he said, balancing his weight as best he could while standing with a sword in one hand.

Carpet shot straight up, leading the bird on a chase through the clouds. Aladdin kept a grip on Carpet's edge to avoid falling while he brandished the sword in his right hand, slashing at the hawk whenever it came too near. He noticed that it flinched away every time he aimed for its eyes. Carpet took them into a dense gray cloud where it was too thick for him to see clearly. It served to hide them for a brief respite before they burst out the other end and found the hawk had gotten ahead of them.

"This thing doesn't give up," he said grimly, and switched sword hands as the bird came at him from the left. He struck it below the right eye and felt the blade tear into flesh. The ensuing screech of pain nearly killed his hearing. The bird dissipated into smoke, and Carpet darted away from the billowing dark mist.

"Genie, are you ready yet?" he yelled, searching the ground far below.

"You betcha! This jinni don't ever make the same mistake twice! Er, most of the time, that is."

No sooner had Genie replied than the hawk materialized behind Carpet once again, resuming its furious pursuit. The world suddenly spun out of control as Carpet was ripped from beneath him and he was freefalling toward the dark sands below. The brisk wind sucked the breath from his lungs and he could only wait as the ground rushed up to meet him. In a desperate maneuver he tried to twist to the side, hoping to lessen the impact.

At the last moment, something snagged him around the waist and flung him back upward, sending him careening in a long arc over the black dunes. He caught a glimpse of Carpet rushing toward him, and in the next second he fell onto its soft surface, quickly grabbing one edge before he could tumble off. To his alarm, his hands dug into tattered threads; the bird had torn up half of one side, yet his friend was still flying.

"Thanks, buddy," he said breathlessly. "We'll get you patched up in no time."

He looked up and saw Genie swinging the elongated arm he had used to stop his fall straight at the bird's wings. It wrapped around and around the bird's body once it hit, binding it in place. Before it could disappear again, Genie drew out an enormous glass jar and stuck his arm inside with the hawk still bound by its coils. He quickly unwound his arm and retracted it with an elastic snap, then slammed a lid onto the jar. The hawk's enraged protests were muffled by the glass as it tried in vain to vanish and escape. The trap was indeed smoke-proof.

"Good work, Genie," Aladdin called. "Now let's get moving."

"Right behind ya, captain!" Genie said, and tossed the jar over his shoulder. It fell to the sands below and rolled to the bottom of a dune, forgotten. "Whoa, Rugman, pretty nasty-looking battle scar you got there."

He repaired Carpet with a blast of magic, and the latter automatically put on a burst of speed to make up for lost time. The sorcerer's stronghold towered in the distance, overlooking the dead city filled with the magic detecting crystals Genie dreaded. Aladdin could sense his friend's hesitation as they neared the border of the necropolis. But he refused to slow down and look for another route. The sorcerer was likely already aware of their approach, in any case.

The sun had vanished beneath the horizon by the time they reached the city, removing the little light they had had to begin with. It was as if they were back in the Netherworld, surrounded by colorless night and the oppressive feeling of death. The latter was equally strong here, as he could make out the slow-moving shapes of the undead patrolling the borders. At this altitude, they appeared as little more than shifting specks far below, but he found his grip on Carpet tightening at the mere knowledge that they were there, cold and mindless and never resting.

Out of the edge of his vision he could see the eerie blue glow of the crystals coming to life one by one as they passed over the first street. He did not look down to see the Mamluks' reactions. Genie's nervous glances told him enough.

"Well, we've been spotted by the Dead Guard. Good thing they don't do archery or javelin throw. Or pole vaulting, for that matter," he said, attempting another half-comprehensible joke.

"Carpet, bring us up higher," Aladdin said. He was fairly sure the Mamluks wouldn't be able to give them trouble as long as they were in the air, but extra precautions couldn't hurt. "Genie, stay on the lookout for more flying creatures."

"Roger that," his friend said, and was suddenly inside a sleek metal flying machine beside Carpet, wearing giant goggles and a scarf. His voice was fuzzy and intermittent when he spoke again. "Radar says-coast-clear!"

"It shouldn't be this easy to get in, unless he wants to deal with us himself," Aladdin mused darkly. Mozenrath could indeed be waiting for them, having decided not to send any more assailants their way after the initial attack from the giant hawk.

"So how's this gonna go? We'll ask Wonder Wizard if kidnapping a princess might be among his latest string of archetypal villain crimes, and if yes, to please let her go because it wasn't a very nice thing to do?"

"Cut out the please and thank you, and that's half the plan. I need you to split yourself and search the Citadel while I confront Mozenrath."

"Ooo, a spy mission!"

"You have to be fast. And be ready for a fight. Even if he doesn't have Jasmine, he probably won't let us leave without trying to kill us first."

"Wouldn't expect any less from ol' Moze. Just hope he's not planning to use any of those nasty Crystals of Ix this time."

Aladdin urged Carpet to fly faster over the winding cliffs leading up to the Citadel. It stood as a dying lighthouse overlooking a black sea, the few lit windows casting a pale yellow glow over tiny portions of the outside wall. He heard a light poof on his left as Genie split himself in two and promptly sent his double around the other way.

"Head for the lowest window," Aladdin ordered, and Carpet adjusted his path accordingly. He braced himself as they neared the wall, ready to fend off a possible last layer of defense against intruders. But nothing happened as Carpet flew straight through the window and brought him into a vast, dark hall with a carved throne at the far end. Genie had already teleported in, planting himself in the middle of the room to deal with the first wave of Mamluks that would inevitably be sent their way.

But nothing happened once again. The room was completely empty save for the sorcerer they had come to challenge. Mozenrath was seated calmly on his ornate throne, wearing an unsurprised, almost bored expression. The grotesque eel was nowhere in sight.

The wizard returned Aladdin's piercing glare with cool indifference as the latter approached and stepped off the carpet right in front of him. "Long time no see, Aladdin. To what might I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

He narrowed his eyes at the obvious act. "You know what we're here for, Mozenrath."

"Suffice it to say that I don't. How many of my Mamluks do I have to repair now thanks to your barging in for no reason?" the sorcerer drawled.

"I don't have time to play around," Aladdin gritted out. "Where is she?"

The act began to slip purposefully as a half-smile curved the sorcerer's lips. "Oh, do we have a missing princess on our hands? I take it she didn't promise to write before she left."

"It's not funny," he seethed, temper spiking. "I knew she'd be here. What do you want with her, Mozenrath? Let her go right now!"

The sly smile vanished, replaced by a familiar look of contempt. "Honestly Aladdin, I don't have her. I suggest you take your search elsewhere; I imagine you have an ample waiting list of enemies to accuse of stealing your precious princess."

"Since when have you ever told the truth?" Genie cut in before Aladdin could respond. His face took on the likeness of a pale-skinned boy with an alarmingly long nose. "Reliable, old-fashioned lie detector. I think our pal Moze needs to get one of these implanted, huh, Al?"

Ignoring the distraction, he kept his focus entirely on the sorcerer, aware that all of this could still be a trap.

_Shambling zombies galore, as usual. But no princess in sight... _Genie's voice sounded in his head.

"I don't believe you," he said darkly. "I know you have her."

Mozenrath laughed. "Is that what you've convinced yourself about everyone you suspect of kidnapping her? Simple physics dictates that your dear princess can only be in one place at one time, street rat. But that's right, you don't know what physics is, do you?"

That pushed him to the end of his limited patience. In two steps he was right in his enemy's face, exactly as it'd been in Desrial where he'd faced down another treacherous bastard who thought nothing of harming Jasmine. But there was no fear or apology in the sorcerer's countenance. He saw only smug satisfaction. The man's arrogance would be short-lived, he would make sure of that.

"I'm warning you one last time, Mozenrath. Let her go."

"Ah, desperate times call for empty threats," the sorcerer said airily, but the cold challenge in his eyes was unmistakable.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll take me seriously. I don't know what you want with her, but I'm taking her back right now. If I need to beat you again, I will."

"Well, you've certainly brought enough firepower." Mozenrath's eyes flickered away from him for a moment. Aladdin didn't turn around, not caring to see Genie's latest bout of untimely antics.

"You're going to help us, Mr. Anderson, whether you like it or not," his friend droned.

"I thought one of the rules in the hero codebook was not to attack without provocation?" Mozenrath said, meeting his gaze once more. The air between them thickened as Aladdin was close enough to see the ruthless flint of the man's eyes, the unhealthy gauntness in his face. They both knew they'd reached the razor-thin line between civility and violence, and neither seemed to care.

_Hmm...dusty corner, rotting Mamluk, rotting Mamluk, winding staircase, old spellbooks...eww, they have pictures. But no princess..._

"The provocation is you have Jasmine," he said, hands tightening into fists.

"And I've already told you that I don't," the sorcerer replied insidiously.

Both of them crossed the line at the same time as the knowing half-smile returned to Mozenrath's face and Aladdin drew back his fist.

The sorcerer leaned forward almost imperceptibly as he added, "But I suppose it's about time you broke out of your shining hero mold and did something more suited to my tendencies."

The air was thick in his throat as his arm froze at his side, nails digging into his palm. The serene half-smile remained plastered on his enemy's face.

The feeling of sickness within him was plainly absurd. Now was not the time to feel guilt, to draw comparisons between his enemies or to question his right to defend the woman he loved. There was nothing he wouldn't do to protect her, to save her now because he had utterly failed to protect her before.

But somehow he found himself taking a tense step backward, and then another. He loosened his grip, his arm nearly trembling with restrained force.

_Al, I'm beginning to wonder if the princess is in another castle..._

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" he said coldly.

Mozenrath rolled his eyes, still feigning disinterest. "I usually only narrate my motives and methods when I'm in the process of carrying them out, but I guess I'll make an exception this time, since your concern for your princess so touches my heart. First, the kidnap-the-princess routine is way overdone. You should know that I don't subscribe to such vulgar trends. Second, if I really did have her, wouldn't I be using her to take over Agrabah by now?"

The wizard's reasoning was sound, but Aladdin knew that that itself was the problem. Mozenrath never spoke so straightforwardly unless he already had all of them at his mercy. He had to be hiding something.

"And despite what your plebeian opinion may be, she's not that attractive," Mozenrath went on with maddening condescension. "At least, not attractive enough to warrant a kidnapping for…well, you know."

Aladdin barely stopped himself from slamming his fist into the sorcerer's infuriatingly smug face for the brazen remark. Mozenrath didn't flinch, implicitly daring him to resort to cruder methods.

_Genie. Can you hear me? _Aladdin tried to emphasize the words as he thought them.

_Reception's a little poor, but yep, I can!_

_We're getting nowhere with this. I need you to scan Mozenrath's mind right now and see if he's telling the truth._

"Got any more convincing lies?" Aladdin said flatly.

His friend was quiet for a moment, and he could feel the unspoken tension in the air behind him. _Um, I don't know about that...it's kind of—_

_Just do it! There's no other way to find out!_

"For the last time, Aladdin. Take your pathetic search elsewhere," the sorcerer said testily as he dropped the amused facade. "I didn't kidnap your princess."

_Genie. Is he lying?_

Reluctant silence.

_Genie!_

_...he's actually telling the truth, Al._

Aladdin hid his surprise and the edge of dark disappointment that cut into him at his friend's subdued words.

_Are you absolutely sure?_

_Yes._

Mozenrath seemed to sense the change in his demeanor despite his attempt to conceal it. "Got any more unwarranted threats, street rat?"

"I won't sink to your level, Mozenrath," he said tightly. "But I still don't trust you, and if I find just one hint that you're lying—"

The sorcerer cut him off in a decidedly menacing tone. "Save me the self-righteous lecture and get off my land before I have to help you on your way. I've got more important matters to attend to than waste my power on you."

"Well, that's the last time we ever come over for tea," Genie sniffed indignantly. "Such atrocious manners for a host."

"Genie, let's go." Aladdin backed away on Carpet, eyes never leaving the sorcerer in case he had some last-minute plot up his sleeve. Despite his continued wariness, they didn't encounter any surprises as they left the same way they had entered.

Genie let out a long breath of relief once they were outside and turned to look over his shoulder. "Hey, hurry up, slowpoke! Don't wanna miss the Agrabah Express!"

His body double caught up to them quickly and pretended to retch over the side of Carpet. "Ugh, claustrophobia, formaldehyde overload, unfriendly locals…I knew I should have listened to my travel agent."

As the two jinnis argued, the deadweight of exhaustion hit him completely without warning, and he hardly felt the fabric against his face as he slumped forward on Carpet. For all the vigilance he had shown toward his enemies, he had overlooked the one real trap waiting to snare him once he'd run low on options.

Genie's voice was indistinct and muffled somewhere nearby. "Don't worry…we'll find her, no doubt…knowing Jas, she'll fight…Agrabah without…"

Aladdin was vaguely aware of words leaving his own mouth in reply, but the next second he couldn't understand or remember what they were. The last thing he felt before succumbing to marrow-deep exhaustion was a soft blanket being draped over his back.

...

_A/N: Aladdin's confrontation with Mozenrath was another scene taken directly from Antiphony. Did it flow well?_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Make way, unconscious hero coming through!" Genie barked as he and Carpet zoomed into the palace via magic portal. He'd been a little off with his aim, and they'd ended up in the main kitchen instead of the infirmary. The bustling place had apparently just opened again after having been put on lockdown.

The cooks scrambled out of the way as Genie and Carpet flew a winding path around containers of spices, flour, various vegetables, and a giant vat of stew. He sampled the stew in passing and frowned at the mediocre taste. Under any other circumstances, he would have turned around and fixed the recipe, but Al's health was a little more important.

Thinking ahead, he snagged a few apples and teabags on the way out. He could make a bit of old-fashioned applesauce and put on some hot tea before Al woke up. Thinking again, he realized he'd have to come back to the kitchen anyway to get more food. Al hadn't eaten anything since the night before, which had probably contributed to his sudden collapse.

As soon as they reached the infirmary, he zapped a tent in the middle of the largest room and ducked into it with Carpet, ignoring the nervous glances of the palace physicians in the hall. The mobile med station came with a bed, portable sink, sterilizing equipment, IV drip, cabinets of painkillers and other common medicines, and plenty of hand sanitizer. Snapping on a pair of gloves, he pulled out a needle and a bag of saline fluid before Eden's voice jolted him out of his routine.

"What do you think you're doing, young man?"

She was dressed in full nurse gear, complete with a white cap and bright red lipstick. He looked sheepish as she pointed at the needle and it vanished from his hand. "You need to put the patient to bed first!"

"Sorry, ma'am!"

Eden sent a gentle spray of magic over Aladdin's prone form and floated him over to the bed. Genie zapped away the wheels, beginning to think he'd need to change a few things about his mobile med station.

She tucked their friend beneath the covers with motherly care, then stepped back and raised a soundproof glass wall around the bed. When she turned back to him, she was serious.

"That bad, huh?" she said softly.

Genie nodded. "You'd think he must have downed a Red Bull every hour with the way he was going. And with the crash at the end."

"Where'd you go?"

"Eh, the Netherworld and Mozenrath's digs. Got thoroughly creeped out by a cat made of smoke, found out ol' Mozey's actually capable of telling the truth, and _didn't _get creeped out by his pet eel!"

Her look of distress told him maybe she hadn't recovered as much as he'd hoped.

"I know, I'm worried too," he said, truly serious now. "We didn't find a trace of her. Al really thought it was Mozenrath, but he made me mind-read the guy," he suppressed a shudder, "and he actually isn't guilty."

"You read his mind?" She was obviously troubled by the thought.

"Al was desperate. I had to."

Eden shook her head and turned to the glass wall, staring at their patient on the bed. "This whole thing is just wrong. The princess starts sneaking around halfway across the Seven Deserts at night, the sultan gets cured from poison without us intervening, bad guys tell us the truth, and Aladdin starts acting…not like himself."

"You're right, he's not himself. But who can blame him after what happened?"

She was quiet for a moment. "The sultan will want to know he's back. I'll go tell him."

"No, I will. You're the registered nurse, you should stay here."

She looked worried. "But if he wakes up, I won't know what to do. If he's still mad at me—"

"Eden, Al doesn't ever stay mad at his friends. You're his friend, so don't worry," he assured her.

She opened her mouth to protest but changed her mind, hesitantly returning his smile. "Okay. The sultan's in Jasmine's room."

"Great. Here're some apples for applesauce, make sure not to use too much cinnamon, and take these lemon teabags too, let it steep for—"

"I got it, Big Blue. Go."

He left with a familiar flutter inside that he felt whenever she acted serious. Their kind was almost never serious, but when the situation called for it, it was easiest to drop the act around other jinnis. He could understand most of what she was feeling, the fear that she'd disappointed someone and that all her powers weren't enough to make up for it. It was her overreaction in Seripensia that still bothered him, but he'd have to find time later for that conversation.

"Your Majesty!" He swept past the row of guards outside the princess' room, ignoring their stern scowls as he flew inside and found the sultan sitting alone on his daughter's bed.

The kind old man turned, and Genie felt something else flicker within him.

"Your Majesty," he said in a more subdued tone.

"You've returned. Have you found my daughter?"

"I'm sorry, Sultan…we haven't."

The sultan's face fell and he looked to the side at the empty pillows. Genie found at that moment that he could empathize with Eden's pain.

"I take it Aladdin has returned as well, then."

"Yes. But he's out cold in the infirmary. Just kept going until he collapsed."

"Is he alright?" the sultan said with concern.

"He'll be just fine. Eden's watching him. And I'll keep looking for Jasmine while he sleeps."

"Where will you go?"

"Um…" Genie realized that without Al's direction, he actually didn't know what to do. "I'll check out some other old enemies. Never know who might have enrolled in dark magic school since we last saw them," he finished lamely.

The sultan was already walking toward the door. "Go quickly, then. If Jasmine is not found by tonight, I will have to make another announcement to the people. Every street has been searched already. She is not in Agrabah."

He was obviously weighed down by his own words, but he held himself with the dignity required of his position. Several guards fell into step behind him as he headed for the infirmary.

As he considered where to resume the search without Al, Genie took out his phone and dialed Morbia again. Since they'd left the Netherworld he had been trying to find an opening into the alternate dimension where Evil Incarnate made her dwelling, but it was just as he suspected. It was impossible to find the place, let alone enter it.

"Hm…if I were pure evil, would I hide the fact I had the princess at my mercy? Or would I flaunt it in the face of Agrabah's most exalted hero?" he pondered aloud. "Maybe I'd wait another day?"

He put away the phone as the ringtone began to get on his nerves. "Seriously, Genie, think. Where else to look?"

He produced a pen and paper and scrawled a quick note to Eden before folding it into a crane. It came to life with a shot of magic and flapped out of his hand, gliding gracefully out the door into the hall. He heard a surprised shout from one of the guards as he went out the opposite way through the balcony.

"Hmm. Maybe I'll stick with the old airplane next time. Might be faster than origami."

Unable to think of anything else, he set a course for Abis Mal's hideout, which was in need of renaming since he and Al had found out where it was a while ago. Drawing a portal in the air, he was careful to pinpoint his exact destination this time. "Yet unnamed place formerly known as hideout, here I come!"

...

"Well, news on the wind is the kid's back," the parrot said as he flapped in from the hall. "Oh, and dinner's coming."

Sadira raised her head, alert. "Did they find her?"

"As you might infer from my lack of enthusiasm, no."

"Did they find anything?"

"Dunno, the kid's kinda unconscious right now."

She stood from the table, snatching up her notes of what they'd been able to gather during the day. "Where is he?"

"Infirmary."

She stopped to glare at the bird before going out the door.

"What?" he said defensively.

She shook her head and left. The light scamper of paws close behind told her Abu was following. She looked down and offered her hand hesitantly, not sure if the little animal actually liked her or not. But he latched onto her fingers quickly and climbed up her arm to settle on her shoulder. She thought she heard something resembling a "thanks" in her ear.

"No problem," she replied, glad to be on good terms with the monkey, at least. Despite having worked with Iago and Abu for a day, she still felt like a stranger in the palace without Jasmine around. As the parrot had flippantly reminded them earlier, her history with all of them wasn't exactly friendly.

"Where is the infirmary, anyway?" she said. Abu pointed down the hall and chattered some directions she couldn't understand. "Uh, thanks. Next time hopefully I can teleport us there."

They reached the place after a few minutes, and the multiple guards posted around one of the doors made Aladdin's location clear. Two stepped forward to block the way when she tried to enter.

"Um, I'm helping with the search for the princess and I need to see Aladdin right now," she said, a little apprehensive at the stern looks she received. The only interactions she'd ever had with guards consisted of running from them and dodging their swords.

"No one is allowed to enter without the sultan's permission," one said.

Before she could think of another way to convince them, Abu leaped from her shoulder onto the nearest guard's arm and darted around his body, drawing an angry curse from both men as they tried to grab the animal with clumsy hands. Sadira watched with suppressed amusement as the monkey pilfered the key somewhere amid the confusion and opened the door with ease. She managed to duck past the bewildered guards before they noticed Abu was no longer dancing circles around them, and shut the door behind her with a light laugh.

"I like your style," she complimented her little companion.

He puffed out his chest with a proud laugh and twirled the key in one paw. Unfortunately the door slammed open behind them and the guards rushed in, grabbing her by the arms before she could run.

"How dare you, peasant wench—"

"Unhand her," the sultan commanded, and Sadira looked up to see the old man standing beside a large white tent in the middle of the room.

"Your Majesty!" the guards spluttered, and let go of her immediately.

She rubbed her arms where they ached but didn't bother looking back at the men, instead bowing low to the sultan.

"Your Highness, I heard Aladdin returned and isn't feeling well, I just wanted to check on him…oh, and I've found a little more on the Mirror of Fiereve if you'd like to hear about it," she said nervously.

"Come in, my dear," he said simply, and retreated into the tent.

The strong smell of spice hit her as soon as she entered. Eden floated to one side, stirring a steaming pot and chopping apples at the same time. She grew an extra arm when she saw Sadira just so she could wave.

"Making applesauce, honey. You can have some when I'm done."

"Uh, thanks," Sadira said. She saw Aladdin then, confined to a sterile white bed behind glass walls. Abu scampered forward and pressed his paws against the glass.

"Keeps the noise out," Eden explained. "He'll sleep undisturbed until he's ready to wake up."

"The poor boy," the sultan said, sitting down on a low chair nearby. "I told him to rest earlier. He did not listen, of course."

"That's just the way he is," Sadira found herself saying. "Doesn't think of himself when Jasmine's in danger."

The sultan nodded sadly. "Jasmine…there is still no sign of her…" He shook himself out of his worry and looked at Sadira. "Tell me, dear, what have you found?"

She pulled out the crumpled piece of parchment in her hand. "It's just a bit more about the magic mirror Jasmine had. The words she must have used to activate its magic. Not really much of a clue, but it's something."

"What were they?"

"'Within the sand lies all that has been set in stone. Search within for that which to you is unknown.'"

Silence followed her statement. Eden tapped the spoon against the side of the pot and looked thoughtful.

"Well, we know she was searching for something. Probably something to help her defeat an enemy."

"Yeah. Like I said, not much of a clue."

"Wait, don't dismiss it," Eden said. "Maybe there's some deeper meaning to the words?"

The sultan repeated the sentence with a pensive frown. "'Within the sand…lies all that has been set in stone.'"

"'Search within…'" Sadira said, then paused. "Search within. Doesn't that sound a little weird for a mirror?"

"Hm, you'd think it'd say 'look within.' Although maybe it's just a matter of sounding poetic. You never know with famous authors of spells and such, they can be quite picky with their language."

"Yeah," Sadira sighed. "Guess I need to keep looking through the scrolls."

"Hey, don't feel down. You've done a lot so far!" Eden said. "But if you've exhausted everything in your library, we could start looking elsewhere. I've been meaning to stop by the one in Alexandria for a while now. We could go together!"

"Please do so," the sultan said solemnly. "I am grateful for your tireless efforts, but I must take my leave and meet with the council again. Inform me when Aladdin wakes. I would like to speak with him."

"Of course, Your Highness," Eden said. "Applesauce for the road?"

He shook his head with a half-hearted smile and left. They watched him go in a subdued hush.

"Can't imagine what it's like for him," Sadira said.

"I can," Eden said quietly. A chair appeared beneath her as she sat down. She motioned for Sadira to sit as well, and gave her a bowl of steaming thick liquid. "Applesauce?"

"Okay." She accepted it and took a small taste. "Delicious. I'll have to borrow the recipe."

Eden beamed. "We never got to make proper introductions, did we? I'm Eden, Jinni of the Bottle, inspirer of sultry pop songs and Sixties sitcoms."

Sadira took the jinni's delicate hand. "I'm Sadira. Uh…I'm a Witch of the Sand and I sell cosmetics in the marketplace, but I was a street rat for most of my life…"

"Pleased to meet ya!" she chirped. "You and Aladdin must be buddies from way back!"

"Heh…not really," Sadira said, her discomfort obvious. Eden seemed to miss it entirely.

"I can't wait for you to meet Dhandi! She'll be so excited to meet a real live Witch of the Sand!"

Sadira laughed. Eden's eccentricity had a way of taking down the walls she usually put up against strangers. She sensed they were going to be great friends.

They both noticed a slight movement behind the glass. The jinni immediately straightened, looking worried. Aladdin merely turned on his side, brow furrowing briefly before he relaxed again and slept on.

"How long is he going to be out, you think?" Sadira asked.

"At least another hour," Eden answered, the humor gone from her voice. "Made the applesauce a little too early, I guess."

"Eden…" she said hesitantly. "What's wrong? This morning I noticed…"

She trailed off as the jinni looked even more despondent.

"I'm part of the reason for this mess," she said. "I let the princess wander into a dangerous city on her own and didn't tell anyone about it. That was two days before she disappeared."

Sadira frowned as Eden turned her gaze to the floor. "Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. Jasmine was the one keeping secrets. You were just being a friend."

"That's what Genie says. But it doesn't change the facts. And it won't make Aladdin feel any better."

"You're afraid of him, aren't you?"

"Terrified," the jinni confessed.

Sadira nodded in understanding. "Wanna hear what I did to make him mad before?"

Eden looked curious. "What?"

"Three separate things. One, I summoned a giant sand monster to capture Jasmine and get her out of the way so I could be Aladdin's girlfriend, and almost got everyone killed when I lost control of it. Two, I cast a time-warp spell over the whole city so I could switch places with Jasmine and marry Aladdin. Three, I made him forget who he was and gave him this ridiculous knight in shining armor personality so he could chase after—you guessed it—me."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"But…you're buddies from way back, right? So he's forgiven you?" Eden said uncertainly.

"No," Sadira laughed. "I mean, we weren't friends before. We met when he saved me from the guards, and I fell head over heels in love. Or at least I thought I did. He was just the perfect guy in my eyes, you know? I did so much idiotic stuff to get him to be with me before I realized how destructive and stupid I was acting. And yes, he did forgive me after all that."

"Wow."

"Yeah, so don't worry about him staying mad. He'll forgive you. He has the kindest heart of anyone I've ever known."

Eden looked at Aladdin with wonder. "Genie always said he was a nice guy, but I didn't know he was that nice. To overlook all of _that_…" She stopped. "I mean, not that you're—"

"No, no, I was horrible. I don't deserve his friendship or Jasmine's, but they accepted me anyway. I'll always be thankful for that," Sadira said. "That's why I want to find Jasmine just as badly as anyone else. She and Aladdin are the first real friends I've ever had."

Eden's gaze softened, and Sadira thought she saw the glimmer of a tear in one eye. "Count me as the third, unless my big lug of a boyfriend already took that spot. I don't know you very well, Miss Sadira, but I'd sure like to."

"Same here," Sadira replied warmly. "But I should probably get back to the lab now. Just let Aladdin know about what I found when he wakes up. And don't be afraid to talk to him about how you feel."

"Will do," Eden said. "Here, take some of this for dessert. And maybe for that noisy parrot too."

Sadira drew some sand from her pouch and sprinkled it over Abu and herself, making sure none of it fell inside the bowl of applesauce. Eden waved as they disappeared from the tent.

"Looks like it'll be a working dinner, little guy," she said.

...

"Alright, Eden. Say sorry first, and then feed him. No, that's not right. Food first, then apologies. Or maybe an explanation of why he's lying in a hospital bed behind glass walls?"

She wrung her hands nervously, pacing back and forth beside the unconscious hero. "Okay, girl, remember what Sadira said. Al's got a heart of gold. Come on, you already knew that. Yeah, but it's really hard to believe it."

She jumped several feet as Aladdin shifted.

"Normal, normal, be normal," she reminded herself. In a flash she combed out her frazzled hair, put on a fresh coat of lipstick, and sprayed her mouth full of mint. "Totally normal."

He stretched slowly, eyes straining to open, and broke into a sudden bout of coughing. She realized she must have put too much cinnamon in the applesauce after all and quickly fanned the air, scolding herself under her breath.

"Eden?" he groaned.

"Present!" she squeaked automatically.

_Normal! _sounded the self-reminder right afterward.

But her maternal instincts took over as soon as Aladdin tried to rise from the bed.

"Hey, take it easy," she said, pushing him back down gently. "You're not in any condition to run off. You have to eat something before you faint again."

"Where's Genie?" he asked, struggling for coherence. "Where am I?"

"He brought you back to the palace before going off on his own. Last I heard, he was at Abis Mal's hideout."

Aladdin drew a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes. "I need to go right now."

"Hold your horses," she said. The cinnamon smell returned full force as she brought a spoonful of applesauce near his face. "I spent too long on this recipe for it to go to waste."

His stomach growled loudly in agreement. Relenting, he sat up and took the spoon from her, accidentally dripping some of the sauce on the sheets. She gave him the bowl and hid a smile as he started shoveling applesauce like there was no tomorrow or day after. Before he finished it all, she conjured several dishes of solid food, which he attacked just as ravenously. It was almost like feeding Dhandi on the evenings she'd forgotten to pack a lunch for school.

"Thanks, Eden," he said, wiping his mouth. He swung his legs over the side of the bed. "What's happened here since I left?"

It seemed he'd already forgotten about his outburst toward her. She was relieved, but at the same time bothered by the lack of closure. What if he was still mad but was just pretending that he wasn't? Or what if he remembered later and held a grudge?

"Sadira found the spell Jasmine must've used to activate the mirror. Doesn't tell us anything, though, so don't worry about it. Oh, and the sultan wants to see you. He was here earlier when Genie first brought you back," she said, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice.

"Tell him I'm fine," he said distractedly. "I have to join Genie right now. Just let him know we checked out the Netherworld and the Land of the Black Sand, we still can't find a way into Morbia, and now we're looking at our second batch of suspects."

"The sultan already knows all that. I think he just wants to see you."

He shook his head. "No time. I told him I'd bring Jasmine back, and I'm going to keep that promise." He strode forward and looked at her pointedly once he reached the glass.

She took a breath. _It's now or never._

"Aladdin, I'm so sorry for what I did."

His impatience turned to surprise as the words tumbled out of her mouth and she gave up on striving for normalcy. "You have every right to be furious with me. I wish I could go back and change everything about that night. It's all my fault that—"

"Eden, listen to me." He put a hand on her arm and she fought not to cringe from his intense gaze. "I'm sorry for making you think it was your fault. It's no one's fault. Please don't blame yourself."

"But I—"

"You're doing a lot to help," he said steadily. "I wish I could take back what I said before. It couldn't be farther from the truth. Please forgive me."

She paused a split-second before tackling him in a bone-crushing hug. A split-second later she remembered it was indeed possible to crush him with her strength and loosened her grip accordingly.

"Okay, okay," he choked out. "I need to go."

She finally let go of him, about ready to burst with happiness and relief. But she reminded herself not to do that literally. Didn't want to make a mess of Genie's mini-hospital.

"You really should see the sultan first," she said, pulling herself back down to earth. "He was worried about you."

He shook his head again. "I won't see him until I find Jasmine. Just tell him I'm okay."

She frowned slightly, now noticing that she hadn't been the only one plagued with guilt. Aladdin averted his eyes as he stepped back and tapped a knuckle against the glass wall. "Let me out, please?"

It vanished under her touch and he stepped onto Carpet, who'd been waiting just outside. She opened a portal for him to reach Genie. "You take care of yourself now. No more all-nighters, young man."

"Thanks for the apple goop. It'd be nice to have some more when Jasmine's here," he said, and for a moment the old smile was back on his face.

"You bet! I'll handle all the catering. It'll be a welcome-home party for the history books!" she called. The portal winked out of existence after he went in, and she let out a sigh of half-relief, half-worry. "Better get ready and cancel Dhandi's curfew again. She'll be back tonight for sure!"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

People of Agrabah.

I come before you today with a heavy heart. It has not lightened since that night one month ago when a yet unknown assassin attempted to take my life, and robbed this kingdom of two of its most devoted servants. That same night, my daughter disappeared.

The mothers and fathers among you today can best imagine the crushing weight of such an event. The heartrending terror, the ceaseless worry, the incurable guilt, day after day, each sleepless night longer than the last. The questions that repeat themselves until they are ingrained as unholy verses in one's memory. What did I overlook? Where was my mistake? What could I have done to save my child?

Why did they not take me instead?

I am your sultan, yes. But before that, I am a man and a father. I speak to you as a parent at this moment, no different from any man or woman among you with a family to care for, with children you cherish more than your own life, and ask you to understand my actions for the past month. As your sovereign I can make no excuses for my neglect of my duties. As a father, I pray you will forgive my weakness.

The many concerns and grievances that have been left unattended will be addressed and resolved promptly. I know that the life of the kingdom must go on and cannot stop for any man's personal tragedy. And I thank you for the outpouring of prayers and the tireless efforts of all those who have joined the search for my daughter. In this time of trial, the people of Agrabah have stood up yet again in solidarity and resolution, not bowing to the fears or uncertainty such adverse circumstances bring, and you have given your best on behalf of your beloved princess. You have my gratitude.

I have always held honesty as a paramount virtue, and I will not offer false reassurances now to myself or to this kingdom. A month has passed. My daughter is still missing. The culprit is still unidentified. The motive is still unclear.

It is human nature to falter before such cold facts. But I ask you not to lose hope, just as I have not lost it even in the dark mires of a father's worst fear. My daughter is strong. She has withstood many dangers and trials before, often on behalf of the kingdom she loves, and she has not faltered. I ask you to have faith in her. And as always, have faith in Him who is supreme over all, who knows all and hears the pleas of His children. He has blessed this kingdom beyond measure since its founding, and Agrabah yet rests in the shade of His palm. Continue to beseech Him for mercy. He hears.

The allies of Agrabah also stand beside us. Liri. Staaris. Desrial. Getzistan. Galafem. Each has offered their most skilled teams to aid in the search. King Phireas of Liri and Queen Hippsodeth of Galafem have personally journeyed here from their lands as a testament to their steadfast commitment. They have my gratitude. Between us, no place in the Seven Deserts will be left unsearched.

And finally, look to the hero of this city, the man who has given himself selflessly to the defense and welfare of Agrabah since he became my daughter's betrothed. My chosen successor, Aladdin. He has suffered the same fears as I ever since that night, yet his faith has not weakened, his steps have not faltered, and his tireless sacrifices for the kingdom have not ceased. Because he has recognized one crucial truth in the midst of tribulation—we must act in my daughter's absence as she would like us to act were she present today. To continue to strengthen the kingdom, to lead it to greater security and prosperity. To serve the poor, the downtrodden, those in need of compassion. To care for orphans and widows. To regard our neighbor as we would one of our own family. These are the convictions my daughter holds and has concretely demonstrated many a time in the past. We would do well to follow her example.

People of Agrabah, though my heart remains heavy, I will have faith. For my duty to the kingdom my daughter so loves also weighs in my heart, and it is a burden I will gladly continue to bear. I ask you to shoulder it with me.

You have my gratitude.

...

The deafening applause of the kingdom was as intimidating as it had always been. But it inspired none of the exhilaration and humbling awe he usually felt. There was no cheering, no voices at all, merely a sea of solemn gazes riveted on the small balcony where he stood alongside the sultan.

The crowd that had gathered to hear the sultan's speech rivaled that of the day he and Jasmine had announced their engagement over two years before. That had been the first time he had stood before the city and tangibly felt his own insignificance in the face of the masses. Two years later, these were the same masses he was expected to rule, who would bow down to him and follow his leading. The sultan had just made it clear that his choice of successor remained unchanged regardless of the circumstances.

He stared numbingly at the faceless sea below until the sultan's voice shook him out of his trance.

"It is done, my boy."

The king of Liri gripped his shoulder in encouragement as they stepped back from the balcony and followed the sultan inside. The applause soon quieted and died down through the curtain.

"Thank you again for your presence here today." The sultan's grave tone was edged with weariness as he acknowledged the king and the tall warrior queen who had stood at his side during the announcement. "And for all the support you have offered."

Queen Hippsodeth touched the sultan's arm in a rare gesture. "It is the least a friend can do."

A ghost of a smile graced the old ruler's solemn countenance. "I would be honored then if you would both join me for dinner. It has been such a long time since we last met."

The obligatory meal was a near-silent affair. The sultan did his best to engage their allies in conversation, but the weight of the matter that had brought them together grew even heavier as it was left unmentioned. Aladdin felt a cold numbness inside knowing they were merely covering over it with pleasantries and distraction. He kept his hands at his sides when he finished eating, fingers clenching into the seat cushions. Night had already fallen, and there were other places he had to be.

Their pitying glances were burns on his skin as he excused himself early. It was not a lie when he said he felt sick.

...

"Where are you going?"

He stopped halfway through the window and turned, one foot still on the sill. Carpet shifted to prevent him from stumbling.

The queen of Galafem stood at his door, a questioning look on her regal face. Though most of the palace was asleep at this hour, she was still dressed in the stately robes from the announcement. He did not miss the bow and quiver of arrows strapped to her back.

The answer was obvious, but he replied out of respect. "I'm going to look for the princess, your Highness."

"And the sultan's orders are otherwise, are they not?"

He kept his face blank. "I still have to go."

Her tone was soft, but undoubtedly commanding. "Step back from the window."

"Queen Hippsodeth—"

"Step back."

He obeyed reluctantly, leaving Carpet outside to wonder how long this unexpected delay would last. Though the sultan had called him aside and given him an express order to stop these nightly trips, he had still gone with Carpet every night since.

"The sultan knows that you have not listened to him," Hippsodeth said.

"So he sent you to talk some sense into me," Aladdin surmised, dropping the formality. He was acquainted enough with the queen to know she valued candidness over courtesy.

"I will talk, but the choice to listen is out of my hands."

"Looks like you're ready to stop me regardless," he said, eyeing her weaponry.

"A warrior knows when to fight and when to talk," she said simply. "Sit with me."

They sat across from each other at the low table in the corner of his room. She glanced at the scattered documents he had collected—reports from scouts spread out over the Seven Deserts. They were all useless.

"Where were you planning to go tonight?"

"Half-Moon Island." He was nearly certain she didn't know where that was.

"And what do you expect to find there?"

"I'm looking for Jasmine," he said tersely. "So I hope to find her there."

She ignored the blatant show of disrespect and continued to question him with patience. "Do you have reason to believe she is on Half-Moon Island?"

"No less reason than anywhere else."

"So you agree that at this point she could be anywhere."

He looked at her warily. "Which is why I need to keep looking."

"Which is why you need to stop and let others go on with the search," she said.

He shook his head. "No. I won't sit back on this. There are places she could be that only I know about. Like Half-Moon Island. Most people haven't even heard of the place—"

"I dispatched two of my warriors there yesterday."

He paused.

"The sultan has shared with me the history of Jasmine's excursions, both accompanied and unaccompanied. It was no exaggeration when he claimed we would cover the Seven Deserts between us. This is not to say that you no longer have a part in this; it is only that your role has changed."

"Changed to what? Where I just give up and let other people do the work? She's my fiancé. I should be the first out there looking and the last to come back. And I don't plan on coming back empty-handed."

"Frankly, you are not fit to make such claims."

He made to rise from his seat when she shoved him with one hand and sent him sprawling across the floor. Recovering from the shock that she'd actually struck him, he scrambled to stand, only to be pushed down by one sandaled foot.

"My point proven," she said, standing over him. "You are strong, Aladdin, but you are not invincible. Do not overestimate yourself while you underestimate all of the allies who have enlisted to help you."

"Get off of me. I don't have time for this," he gritted out. He didn't care if she meant well. She was only getting in his way, and unlike the sultan, she actually presented a physical obstruction to his mission. At the moment he'd do anything to have Genie nearby to help him escape.

The queen's gaze hardened. "If you can make me, then you can go."

There was a frozen moment as he seriously considered fighting the ruler of one of Agrabah's most trusted allies, who also happened to be the sultan's beloved. Her proud, sharp eyes told him she would think nothing of incapacitating him if it came down to it. She probably even had the sultan's permission to do so, he realized.

Not breaking his gaze from hers, he relaxed minutely and put up his hands. A moment later the pressure on his chest eased as she lifted her foot with a curt nod.

"Chosen like a warrior," she said, and reached down to help him up. He hesitated only slightly before taking her hand. The strength of her grip was intimidating, as expected; she pulled him up with no effort at all.

"Queen Hippsodeth, you have to understand," he said. "The sultan's asking me to do the impossible. I can't just stop searching for Jasmine. It's the same as giving up. I'm not—"

"No. You're the one striving to do the impossible. Wearing yourself down completely, driving yourself to the point of exhaustion and delirium because you think this burden is yours alone. And under this illusion, you end up carrying only your own burden, without any room to shoulder those of the people who need you most."

She glared at him, silencing his protest.

"You may care nothing of your own health. But what of the sultan's?"

Her words were like daggers. He had no answer to them.

She sat down at the table again and sharply motioned for him to follow. He did not hesitate in obeying this time.

"Do you understand the full toll that his daughter's disappearance has taken on him?" she asked more quietly.

"I can imagine. I know how much he loves her."

"Do you really?"

"She's his only child. He'd give his life for her. He almost has, many times. I know it's killing him inside. Which is why I have to keep my promise to him and bring her back."

She shook her head, frowning. "You still don't understand. This is not about you. This is not about any promises you might have made or how much you feel you need to demonstrate that you love her. He knows you do."

"He trusts me to keep my word."

"Are you listening?" she snapped. "This is not about you!"

"But I'm responsible because I didn't stop it from happening, and he—"

"He is dying, Aladdin."

He stared at her.

"It truly is killing him," she said in a different tone. "At this rate he will not last a year. And do _not_—" she cut him off before he could argue, "tell me that the way to prevent this is to drive yourself to the brink of death searching for his daughter. He does not want you to follow after him and be so consumed by guilt that you lose your strength and all the promise of your young life. That would be a waste and the ultimate irresponsibility when you have other deep commitments to honor. Commitments you cannot afford to neglect any longer, if not on your own behalf, then for your father-in-law."

Her choice of words cut into him just as she intended.

"You must begin to prepare for the throne now, Aladdin. You do not have the luxury of time or the patience of the people. You know better than I the obstacles that lay ahead, the ones you have so far avoided in order to pursue more glamorous duties, protecting the city from attack, standing up for the poor, foiling the plans of those who wish Agrabah ill. But if you do not prepare to wield true power now, it will be lost to you before long."

The reply poised on his lips died as he finally noticed the sorrow in the queen's eyes, barely visible beneath the fierce determination to make him understand. She was too strong to reveal her weakness beyond the look of weariness and acceptance of the inevitable. And he knew she would not accept his sympathy any more than he could stomach the pity of all those around him.

He looked away at last. "I'm sorry."

She raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"I'm sorry if I've let the sultan down. And I'll try to do what he asks—I _will_ do what he asks, and ease his burden as best I can. It's just that if I stop looking for her…"

He trailed off, one hand digging into his scalp. "I can't stop. If I do, it'll be as if I'd given up on her."

"The sultan's order was not meant to bar you from leaving Agrabah altogether. It is meant to keep you rooted here long enough to learn, to seriously prepare for the throne. To know that your primary duty is here, not wandering the Seven Deserts days at a time."

He shut his eyes. To imagine going just one day without searching was torture. He would not be able to concentrate on anything inside the palace, especially not the mundane affairs of governance that were supposedly crucial for him to learn. It would essentially be a slow process of suffocation.

"Do you believe what the sultan said today? To have faith in her?"

"I…don't know," he said wearily.

"There is a reason I marked her as one of my warriors. She is no ordinary woman, as you well know. Believe in her."

"She's been gone a month." His tone was flat.

"I know. The facts are grim. But if you love her, you will still believe in her regardless. Perhaps she will be strengthened by it from afar."

"That's bullshit."

He stood and looked down at her, anger mounting.

"You can convince me to stay here for the sultan's sake. For the kingdom's sake. But don't try to gloss it over with some inspirational poetry about hope," he snapped. "Do you know what I see in my sleep, the little I get of it anyway? I see her dying, or worse, trapped in torment somewhere I can't reach her. I hear her screaming. But she can never see me. She doesn't know where I am and why I'm not coming to save her.

"And she can't hear me, either. I tell her not to give up, that I'm almost there, to wait for me, to be strong, everything that I could possibly think of to give her hope and make her hold on just long enough for me to get to her. But she can't hear me at all.

"And the longer this waking nightmare drags on, the closer to reality I think my dreams become. Sometimes I think they're already there. Is there any way to tell, if she can't see or hear me anyway?

"So don't talk about any lofty ideals with me. They don't do anything. At least when I go out to look for her and search until I pass out from exhaustion, I know I'm doing something. The pain and weakness in my body tell me I'm doing something, doing all that I can for her.

"Even if…" He was breathing hard now. "Even if she…"

He turned quickly and moved toward the window. Carpet was still there, waiting. The queen sat still at the table and did not try to stop him.

But before he reached it he collapsed onto his knees, hands hitting the floor hard as he bent forward. He gritted his teeth until they hurt, shutting his eyes against the deafening silence. The only thing he could hear was his own treacherous breathing as he fought for control. He could not afford to break now, because he didn't know when he would be able to stand and run again, to resume the desperate search that had fused with his heartbeat.

He hardly felt the soft hand on his shoulder as he knelt there, frozen. The menacing whisper of helplessness was loud in his ear, and though he tried to silence it, he could not shut out the accusing truth. The only thing he had found through all these haunted, sleepless nights was a trap of inertia.

...

Silence began to settle over the palace with the waking of the night, broken intermittently by the clipped footsteps of patrolling guards. Conversations drew down to sparse murmurs as the last of the servants finished their duties and retired to their rooms below. Alone in the princess' chambers, the tiger waited for the lamps in the hall to dim.

The room had been unlit since her disappearance, and was immersed in darkness soon after each sunset. For a tiger, this did not pose any difficulty, as the light of the moon was enough to illuminate his surroundings. He often stayed awake late into the night, tracing the outline of the empty bed, where the sheets and pillows had been arranged neatly by a maid several days after she had gone. Sometimes in the mire of half-wakefulness, he was struck with confusion by the pristine state of the room, wondering how she had managed to rise and leave without his noticing. Then his senses would sharpen and he would lower his head back to the floor, staring at the place she had always laid her head to rest. Many days had passed since the first day he had awoken to this new, unnatural order, a jarring change that all the humans in the palace seemed to find equally wrong and difficult to absorb.

A chill breeze swirled past the curtains, brushing against his fur. He raised his head and tested the air almost perfunctorily. It was only the scent of sand, coarse and blank.

He stared at the amorphous sliver of black sky that vanished each time the curtains flowed together and crossed. When there was no wind, he could still catch traces of her presence, the most familiar and important scent he knew. But he was beginning to discover that even the most treasured of scents faded with time.

He had never been without her scent. Since they were young cubs, he had been her loyal guardian and friend. When she had been old enough to decide on a mate, she had run away for the first time and left him worried, as he could not track her outside the palace walls. To his relief, she had returned, but shortly afterward she had chosen a mate who often took her away from the palace and from Rajah's protection. It had never settled well with him, but she had been happy, and he had grudgingly accepted that she had found another protector.

They had failed. None of them had been able to detect the invisible predator circling her this time, and for all the ways she resembled a tiger, she had not been able to win whatever relentless game she had joined against it.

The outline of the bed imprinted itself in his vision as he tried to sleep and could not, troubled by the wrongness of this night and the many that had preceded it. She had always returned before, no matter what had happened to threaten her power or territory. The palace was her home where she belonged, and this chamber had been her place of rest since she had been small enough to ride on Rajah's back. She had grown to be strong and quick as any seasoned hunter, but he was afraid she had also taken on the trait that was both a tiger's great strength and deadly vice.

Pride.

She had thought she could hunt alone.

It was too late to warn her now. He could only wait, night after night, as cool drafts of desert air and time, both scentless, slowly dimmed the traces of her presence.

...

_A/N:_

_1. Does this chapter close the interlude well enough?_

_2. Overall, whose POV did you enjoy the most, and/or who could you empathize with the most?_

_3. Now that it's finished, how does Shards feel as a whole?_

_Thanks to demonegg and shini02 for helping me write and proofread, and to everyone who has read and reviewed._


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